Viper's Grudge
by Count Morningstar
Summary: While visiting New York City, Jaden and a few of his friends end up getting captured by an old enemy from his past, Professor Viper. Now Jaden and his companions must endure a new round of survival duels deep in the jungle if they have any hope of getting back alive. Takes place after Ritual of Doom, VR Duelists, and A Package Deal.
1. Prologue

**Introduction:** I know that this story got delayed for quite a long time, but at long last I'm pleased to bring everyone the next major story in my series of GX fanfics. I actually had a lot of difficulty getting this story off the ground this past week due to my new job and me getting hit with this virus that may or may not have been a cold. Now that I'm at least back at full health though, I've finally been able to get this latest installment of the series online.

Before we go any further, I should probably mention that if you haven't read my previous GX stories, _Ritual of Doom_ , _VR Duelists_ and _A Package Deal_ , you might be a little lost with what's happening in this story. We're unfortunately at a point in this series where it's a little hard to just jump in from the middle.

 **Disclaimer:** I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh! GX.

* * *

Prologue

It was the dead of night as Thelonius Viper sat waiting in one of the pews near the back of an abandoned church. Sitting in the row right behind Viper sharpening a small dagger was a young woman with tan skin and long dark hair, wearing a black leather jacket over an olive-green tank top with dark-grey jeans and black boots. This young woman was Viper's right hand, an assassin for hire who went by the codename, Lamia. The two of them had been sitting in the church for at least three hours waiting to meet with a pair of Viper's old associates from his days as a soldier for a very special mission. As the two continued to wait, Viper looked at his watch and saw that they still had a few minutes before the time of the agreed upon meeting.

At last the doors to the abandoned church opened, and walking in was a large muscular man who stood at just over seven feet tall. He had dark skin and a shaved head, and a distinctive burn scar on his left cheek. He had on an olive-green tank top with a dark-green leather vest. The man's left arm was covered in more burn scars, and he had thick brown leather bands around both his wrists. The rest of his outfit consisted of a pair of tan jeans with black leather boots, and a handgun that hung from his waist from a black leather holster.

Viper smiled as he rose from his seat to greet to meet the muscular giant. "Barry Hudson. It's been far too long."

"It's good seeing you again after all this time, Commander," Hudson replied. His eyes widened upon noticing Viper's extremely pale complexion. "Geez! If you don't mind me saying so sir, you look like you've seen better days."

Viper merely chuckled. "Yes, I've had a few setbacks since we last worked together." He then noticed that Lamia had gotten to her feet. "You of course remember Lamia, don't you?"

"Oh yeah. That girl we took in during our mission in Indonesia, right?" Hudson recalled, as he looked Lamia over. "I've heard you've made quite the name for yourself, kid."

"It's all thanks to Commander Viper," Lamia responded.

The door to the church opened again, and walking in was a short slender man with fair skin, short dark-brown hair, and a scar down his right cheek. He had on a brown leather jacket with fingerless black gloves, a green shirt, olive-green jeans and black boots.

The short man walked up and gave Viper a salute. "Fred Patterson reporting as ordered, sir."

"Good of you to come, Patterson," Viper responded.

"Hey, when the best C.O. you've had asks for your help, there's no way you'll turn him down," Patterson responded. "If I may say so sir, you look like you've been through hell."

"I have been," Viper responded darkly. "I have been through the gates of death and hell, and now I have come back to gain my revenge on the ones responsible for my suffering. I understand that you've both become skilled duelists since we last worked together. That's good, because you'll need those skills to eliminate our target."

"And just who is it we're after?" Patterson asked.

"A young professional duelist named Jaden Yuki," Viper answered. "He is the one responsible for my agony, and I will make him pay even if I have to strangle him with my own bare hands!"

"Jaden Yuki, huh? I've heard of him," Hudson recalled. "He's supposed to be some kind of prodigy or something."

"Jaden Yuki is an abomination, and I will not rest until I have destroyed him," Viper told the two. "Though not before making him suffer though hell first."

"Whatever you have in mind sir, you can count on both of us to back you up," Patterson assured him.

"That's right. We'd both be dead if it wasn't for you," Hudson added. "We'll do everything in our power to make sure this mission succeeds."

"I knew I could count on you both," Viper responded.

"Well I'm not so sure that I can," a distorted female voice suddenly spoke.

Viper and the others looked, and standing in front of the altar at the head of the church was a ghostly humanoid entity that appeared to be a woman. Her body was pitch black except for what appeared to be stars, though most of her features were outline by glowing white lines. She had no face except for a pair of bright glowing white lights that seemed to serve as eyes. Startled, Hudson pulled out his gun and fired every single bullet in the gun's magazine into the entity. The woman merely laughed as the bullets passed harmlessly through and into the altar, shattering the decaying wood to pieces.

"Are you quite though?" the entity asked in her distorted voice.

"What… what the hell is that thing?" Hudson asked.

"You can all relax," Viper told his soldiers as he raised a gloved hand to them. "This… young woman is my benefactor. She's the reason why I'm able to stand before you all today."

"You may call me Lucia," the entity told them. "And just so you know, I'm not actually here. What you're seeing right now is an astral projection of me. In actuality, I'm miles away from this quaint little hovel you've chosen to meet in."

"What do you want, Lucia?" Viper asked.

"I only wish to voice my skepticism about this little enterprise of yours," Lucia answered as she hovered towards the group. "I have to say Viper, so far I'm rather disappointed in your performance. Your earlier attempt to destroy Jaden Yuki with a virtual copy of his mind was amusing, but ultimately pointless. If that's the best sort of plan you can offer up, I highly doubt that these new survival duels of yours will be anymore effective."

"I'll admit that using a virtual copy of Jaden Yuki to destroy him was a failure, but this plan will not be," Viper assured her. "This time I will not leave it to simple automation. With this plan, I will be able to personally oversee Jaden's demise."

"Well then. I guess we shall see soon enough if you and your soldiers are truly as effective as you claim," Lucia responded.

"If you don't mind me asking ghost girl, what the heck is your beef with Jaden Yuki?" Patterson asked. "I mean I don't care what Commander Viper's reasons for wanting him dead are, but what's your stake in this?"

"I was born for only two purposes. To destroy the one called Jaden Yuki… and to remake this worthless world," Lucia answered. "That is all you need to know. I will leave you all now to carry out your little plan. But remember Viper… I will be watching."

With that, Lucia totally vanished like a puff of smoke. Hudson and Patterson both breathed a sigh of relief as soon as she was gone.

"Pay no attention to Lucia, gentlemen," Viper told the two. "Our focus right now should only be on eliminating Jaden Yuki."

"So how're we gonna do this?" Hudson asked.

"For starters, we're going to take Jaden Yuki onto our battlefield," Viper answered. "If Jaden hopes to somehow survive this, he's going to have to fight through hell."

* * *

 **Author's Note:** I usually don't post the prologue of a story until I have the actual first chapter of it finished. So it kind of goes without saying that you can all just proceed to Chapter 1. Or if you like, you can go ahead and leave a review now.

Oh, and a quick shoutout to my friend DragonKnight15 for helping me with developing the Lucia character.


	2. Renewed Rivalry

**Author's Note:** Just a quick reminder, you might be a little lost if you haven't read my previous GX stories, _Ritual of Doom_ , _VR Duelists_ or _A Package Deal_. You can probably get by with at least reading _A Package Deal_ or _Ritual of Doom_.

 **Disclaimer:** I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh! GX.

* * *

Chapter 1: Renewed Rivalry

It was midafternoon as Jaden Yuki stood atop one of the taller skyscrapers in New York overlooking the city. He had just won the Central Park Duel Tournament only two hours ago and decided to celebrate by taking in some of the sights. Standing next to Jaden looking out over the city with him was his girlfriend, Alexis Rhodes. On the spur of the moment, Alexis had decided to take a break from her studies as a teacher to come and cheer Jaden on. She had also come to the city to give Jaden some support during what was possibly going to turn into a time of crisis for the wandering pro duelist.

"This sure is quite the city," Jaden remarked.

"It sure is," Alexis agreed. "You can't stop thinking about it though, can you?"

Jaden let out a heavy sigh. "Well… when you know someone out there is trying to kill you, it's hard not to be a bit worried."

Shortly before the tournament, Jaden had been called in to help his old academy classmate, Blair Flannigan escape a virtual reality simulation gone wrong. The simulation turned out to be an elaborate trap that someone had put together in order to kill Jaden, and whoever set the trap was still out there.

"Well at least you were able to forget about it during the tournament," Alexis pointed out. "You did really well, by the way."

"Thanks," Jaden replied. "But now that this tournament is finally over, I can't stop wondering about who's trying to kill me this time."

"We shouldn't forget that whoever this person is could strike at any time," Jaden's Duel Monster companion, Yubel pointed out as she appeared between the two. "Jaden is right to be cautious."

"I guess so," Alexis agreed. "Hey. I'm going to go get something from that vending machine we saw in the hallway on the way up here. You want anything?"

"Nah. I'm good," Jaden answered.

"Aren't you going to ask if I want anything?" Yubel asked with a playful smirk.

"Last time I checked, you didn't eat or drink anything," Alexis responded with a smirk of her own.

"I know. I just thought I'd try messing with you," Yubel responded.

"You'll have to do better than that," Alexis responded with a two-fingered salute before walking off.

"I'm still kind of getting used to you and Alexis being able to communicate," Jaden remarked. "I sure am glad you're both getting along with each other though."

"Well, once I got to know her, I found that she's a pretty good person," Yubel replied. "And the three of us did have a lot of fun last night."

Jaden blushed at this remark. "Yeah, that was great. Of course thanks to you and Alexis, it'll be a while before I can walk around on a beach without my shirt."

"You certainly haven't changed much since we last met," a familiar voice spoke.

Jaden turned around, and standing a few feet away was a young man with dark skin and long dark hair, wearing a brown leather vest over a sleeveless red shirt, along with grey jeans and a pair of black combat boots. Holstered at his waist was a large yellow duel disk designed to look like a gun. This was an old friend of Jaden's from his last two years at Duel Academy, Axel Brodie.

"Well this is certainly a surprise!" Jaden declared as he approached his old friend. "How ya been, Axel?"

"Pretty good," Axel answered. "I heard you just won the Central Park Tournament."

"Yeah. There were some pretty tough duelists in that competition," Jaden replied. "So what brings you to New York?"

"Actually, you're sort of the reason why I'm here," Axel revealed. "Or I guess I should say, the person trying to kill you is. Seto Kaiba hired me to find the person who tampered with that virtual reality simulator of his, and he figured whoever was responsible will try to come after you again. So until this person strikes, I'm going to stick to you like a shadow."

"Oh… okay. Not sure how I should take that," Jaden responded.

"I get what you're saying," Axel replied. "It never feels good knowing that you have a target on your back. Just be glad though that I'm here as a bodyguard in case you need it."

"Well thanks for that, but you think you could maybe watch yourself from a distance?" Jaden requested. "I'm sort here on a date."

"With Alexis Rhodes," Axel responded. "I saw her with you earlier. To be honest, I never thought you two would actually hook up. Guess I owe Jim Cook five bucks."

"I think he needs to work on his social skills a bit," Yubel remarked as she reappeared behind Jaden.

"Anyway, you don't have to worry. You two will hardly notice that I'm here," Axel assured him.

"Jaden Yuki!" another voice interrupted.

Jaden and Axel looked, and standing a few feet away was a young man with long spiked dark hair, wearing a long black coat over a black shirt with black pants. A Duel Academy duel disk with blue trim was on his left arm. Jaden instantly recognized the young man as his old academy rival, Chazz Princeton.

"Well hi Chazz!" Jaden enthusiastically greeted. "I sure am glad to see you. It's been ages since we last saw each other."

"Can it!" Chazz shot back. "I didn't come all the way here to catch up on old times! You and I have a score to settle, and I'm not leaving until it is!"

Jaden grinned as he pulled his duel disk out of his bag. "Game on!"

"I'll get out of your way," Axel decided as he headed over to the railing to watch.

With that, Jaden and Chazz activated their duel disks and drew their opening hands. Axel leaned against the railing and stood silently with his arms crossed. A few of the other sightseers on the roof had already noticed the duel starting up.

"I'll start this off!" Chazz declared. "First I summon Armed Dragon LV3 in Attack Mode!"

Appearing on Chazz's side of the battlefield was a fairly small bipedal dragon with large round yellow eyes and a mostly orange body. Much of its head, as well as its neck and the front of its torso were covered in thick lavender scales, and it had an oversized orange jaw. Both of its shoulders were covered in lavender scales as well, and each shoulder had a set of three short silver spikes growing from them. A row of silver spikes grew down the length of the dragon's stomach, and on the back of its hands were lavender coverings that resembled boxing gloves. A pair of very small orange wings grew from the dragon's back, and the end of its lavender tail resembled a club.

"I set one card on the field and end my turn!" Chazz announced.

"My move!" Jaden declared as he drew his first card.

"Well this duel isn't getting off to a good start," Yubel remarked. "If you don't get rid of that dragon now, it'll evolve on Chazz's next turn."

"I know, but Chazz wouldn't leave the base form of his dragon on the field like that unprotected," Jaden quietly pointed out. "That card he set is probably a Trap to protect Armed Dragon until it levels up, and I don't have a card in my hand that can get it off the field."

"So what're you going to do?" Yubel asked.

"The only thing I can. Put up a good defense until I can figure out a plan," Jaden answered. "I activate Polymerization! I fuse Elemental Hero Burstinatrix and Elemental Hero Clayman in my hand to Fusion Summon Elemental Hero Rampart Blaster in Defense Mode!"

Appearing on Jaden's side of the field was a grey-skinned woman with long straight dark-grey hair, wearing a gold helmet and a red bodysuit, along with a man clad in thick grey and tan stone-like armor with a red mask. As soon as they appeared, both heroes jumped into a small transparent vortex that appeared in the air above the battlefield. Dropping down out of the vortex a few moments later with a loud thud was Burstinatrix clad in an enhanced version of Clayman's armor. Over her eyes was a red visor decorated with a flame pattern. On the end of her right arm was a large futuristic blaster, while her other arm ended with a red shield with a silver frame.

"Next I summon Winged Kuriboh in Defense Mode!" Jaden announced.

Materializing next to Rampart Blaster was a small ball of brown fur with large orange and purple eyes and four green reptilian legs. On the sides of its body were two small white-feathered wings.

"When Rampart Blaster is in Defense Mode, she can attack my opponent directly at the cost of cutting her attack power in half!" Jaden announced. "Rampart Blaster, attack Chazz! Rampart Shot!"

The armored hero took aim at Chazz with her blaster and fired a shot of blue energy across the battlefield. Chazz was struck in the chest and his life points dropped to 3000.

"I lay down a facedown and end my turn!" Jaden announced.

"Already running scared," Chazz remarked as he drew his next card. "That's pretty disappointing. With the start of my turn, Armed Dragon evolves from LV3 to LV5!"

On cue, Armed Dragon suddenly grew in size and changed drastically in appearance. The orange parts of the dragon's body turned a darker shade, while the lavender parts of his body became black. His eyes turned green and became smaller, and two rows of sharp silver spikes grew from the underside of his jaw. There were now three rows of razor-sharp spikes growing from the dragon's stomach, and the boxing glove coverings his hands had each gained a set of four silver spikes. More spikes grew from the dragon's shoulders, and the club on the end of its tail had gained spikes as well.

"I activate Card of Sanctity, allowing us both to draw cards until we each have six!" Chazz announced. "Next I activate Pot of Greed and draw two more cards!"

"He's really trying to buff up his hand," Yubel observed.

"I wonder… it looks like Chazz is using his old Armed Dragon strategy, but I wonder if he's going to try and use another one of his old strategies along with it?" Jaden theorized.

"You mean those VWXYZ monsters of his?" Yubel recalled. "Well that would explain why he's trying to draw so many cards. Those materials are hard to get together. But using those monsters along with the Armed Dragons? That seems a little excessive."

"I activate the Spell card, Ojamadification!" Chazz announced. "By removing Ojama monsters from my hand, field or Graveyard from play, I can special summon an equal number of monsters listed on a Light Machine-Type Fusion Monster from my hand, deck or Graveyard! I banish Ojama Yellow, Ojama Green, and Ojama Black from my hand to special summon from my deck, X-Head Cannon, Y-Dragon Head, and Z-Metal Tank!"

"Say what!" a startled Jaden exclaimed.

On cue, three brand new monsters appeared on Chazz's side of the field next to Armed Dragon. The first monster, X-Head Cannon was a blue mostly humanoid robot with a yellow visor above its red eyes and a pair of oversized yellow and blue arms. Instead of legs, the lower half of the robot ended with a spiked blue spear, and attached to its shoulders was a pair of long blue cannon barrels. The second monster, Y-Dragon Head was a red mechanical dragon with a single pair of legs and a long tail. The third monster, Z-Metal Tank was a yellow robotic tank with seemingly no weapons and a blue mechanical eye on its front.

"I don't believe it… Chazz just summoned all the materials for XYZ-Dragon Cannon to the field in an instant," an astounded Jaden spoke. "And he used the Ojamas to do it."

"It's a bold strategy, I'll give him that," Yubel remarked. "Actually it's more reckless than anything else. Using the Armed Dragons and the Ojama monsters together with the VWXYZ monsters seems kind of dangerous."

Jaden merely grinned. "This is just the kind of awesome duel I was hoping for from Chazz."

"I combine X-Head Cannon, Y-Dragon Head and Z-Metal Tank to summon XYZ-Dragon Cannon!" Chazz announced.

Y-Dragon Head's wings detached and its legs retracted into its body as it docked onto the top of Z-Metal Tank. X-Head Cannon's lower half then connected to the port on the back of Y-Dragon Head, causing all three machines to become a single robot.

"I activate XYZ-Dragon Cannon's effect and discard a card to destroy Rampart Blaster!" Chazz announced.

The Dragon Cannon fired two powerful beams of blue energy from the barrels on its shoulders, striking Rampart Blaster in the chest. The armored hero explodes with a flash of fired and smoke upon being hit.

"This duel just feels off to me," Yubel remarked. "It's like… you remember our friend, Hiroki from the incident with Blair?"

"Yeah? What about him?" Jaden asked.

"Well it kind of feels like we're dueling him right now," Yubel answered. "Don't ask me why."

"Prepare yourself, Jaden!" Chazz spoke. "This is where my comeback begins!"

* * *

It took a little while for Alexis to get the drink she had wanted out of the vending machine. A small line had formed in front of the machine, and it had taken a few minutes for it to break up. Shortly after getting her drink, Alexis's phone began to ring. The Caller I.D. told her that it was her brother, Atticus.

Alexis put the phone to her ear. "Hi Atticus. What's up?"

 _"Hey sis. How's the Big Apple?"_ Atticus asked over the line.

"Fine. Jaden and I are having a pretty good time," Alexis answered.

 _"Great. So listen, you haven't run into Chazz by any chance, have you?"_ Atticus asked.

"Chazz? He's here in New York too?" Alexis asked.

 _"Yeah, and um… you might want to keep him away from Jaden,"_ Atticus told her.

"How come?" Alexis asked with a quirked brow.

 _"Well… remember a few years ago back at the academy during the Shadow Riders thing when Chazz challenged you to a duel and used all of those love-themed cards?"_ Atticus asked.

"Kinda?" Alexis answered. "Why?"

"Well you see… you might not have realized it, but Chazz is in love with you," Atticus explained. "The reason he dueled you back then was so you'd be so impressed with him for beating you that you'd fall for him. It was my idea that he duel you, by the way. Sorry 'bout that."

"…Oh god," Alexis spoke. "Wait, is Chazz still in love with me?"

 _"Yeah, and here's where it gets kinda awkward,"_ Atticus continued. _"Reggie and I ran into Chazz a little while ago when we were in Italy. He had just taken part in this tournament and, well… I kinda mentioned to him that you and Jaden were dating now. He didn't take the news well."_

"Oh god!" Alexis exclaimed.

 _"So yeah, I just thought I'd give you a heads-up in case you and Jaden ran into him in New York, because he mentioned something about hunting Jaden down to prove his strength to you or something like that,"_ Atticus responded. _"Anyway, just thought I'd let you know so you could let him down gently if you ran into him. Well, gotta go. Reggie just came in wearing something totally sexy. Later sis."_

Alexis let out a heavy sigh as the line went dead. "Great! Just great!"

* * *

Back in the duel, Yubel's eyes went wide with what could almost be described as terror. "Oh… crap!"

"What?" Jaden asked.

"Uh… you know what? Never mind what I just said," Yubel told him with a nervous smile. "You'll need to give this duel a hundred percent of your attention if you hope to beat Chazz."

"Right! I need to give this everything I've got," Jaden responded as he turned his attention back to the duel.

"I attack Winged Kuriboh with Armed Dragon!" Chazz announced. "Armed Knuckle!"

Armed Dragon lumbered across the field and punched Winged Kuriboh into the ground with his spiked fist. When the Dragon listed his fist there was nothing left of the brown fur ball.

"I activate my Trap, Hero Signal!" Jaden announced. "When a monster is destroyed in battle, Hero Signal lets me summon another Hero from my deck! I summon Elemental Hero Stratos to the field!"

Appearing in Winged Kuriboh's place was a blue-skinned warrior with dark-blue armor covering his chest and white armor covering his legs. On his head was a white helmet with wing-like blades on the side and a green visor that totally covered his face. On the warrior's back was a pair of large mechanical wings with propellers.

"Using the effect of Stratos, I add Elemental Hero Neos to my hand!" Jaden announced.

"Like I care!" Chazz responded. "XYZ-Dragon Cannon, attack Stratos! XYZ Hyper Cannon!"

The Dragon Cannon fired every single weapon on its body at Stratos. The sky hero was totally vaporized upon being struck. As the smoke from Chazz's attack cleared, Alexis arrived and stood next to Axel to watch the duel.

"About time you showed up," Axel told her, getting the blonde's attention. "I was starting to think you were gonna miss the whole thing?"

"What're you doing here, Axel?" Alexis asked.

"It's a long story. I'll explain after the duel," Axel answered. "I have to say though, I don't think I've seen Chazz this fired up."

"Yeah, well… there's kind of a reason for that," Alexis replied. "Let's just say he's trying to prove something."

"I already know all about your recent phone conversation with your brother thanks to our connection," Yubel informed Alexis as she appeared next to her. "You certainly are quite the heartbreaker."

"So it's as bad as I think it is?" Alexis quietly asked.

"Oh yeah. Chazz is going all out to beat Jaden in order to prove himself to you," Yubel confirmed. "You can see it in his current strategy."

Alexis took a good look at the field. "He's using his Armed Dragon together with the VWXYZ monsters?"

"And those Ojama twits," Yubel added. "There are a lot of ways a deck like that can backfire."

"Well it seems to be working right now," Alexis observed.

"Jaden is of course totally clueless about how Chazz feels about you," Yubel told her. "For now let's just keep it that way until after the duel. Right now he's totally enjoying himself."

"Yeah, this duel is helping him forget about his other problems," Alexis agreed. "It's going to be totally awkward for all of us when it ends though."

"Thanks to Winged Kuriboh's effect, I take no battle damage this turn!" Jaden announced.

"That doesn't matter," Chazz responded with a smirk. "I attacked Winged Kuriboh knowing about its effect. But the reason I attacked wasn't so I could inflict damage. I end my turn, and because Armed Dragon destroyed a monster, he at this moment evolves from LV5 to LV7!"

Armed Dragon grew in size and transformed again. His neck grew longer and the black scales covering his face and neck had become silver armor. The front of his jaw had gained a pair of curved spikes. The orange parts of the dragon's body had turned a deep orange-red. The undersized wings on his back had become a pair of silver segmented blades, and the large spiked club on the end of his tail had gained a drill.

"Now Jaden's up against both Armed Dragon LV7 and XYZ-Dragon Cannon," Axel observed. "I don't know how he's gonna get out of this one."

"Jaden will find a way," Alexis told him. "He always does somehow."

Jaden drew his next card and scowled. "Dang. First I lay down a facedown! Then I summon Elemental Hero Wildheart in Defense Mode!"

Appearing on Jaden's side of the field in a kneeling position was a muscular warrior with tanned skin and long black hair tied back in a ponytail. He had red tribal markings on his face, chest and shoulders. Slung across the warrior's back was a sword with a large blade.

"That ends my turn," Jaden announced.

"Don't give up, Jaden!" Alexis called. "I know there's still a way for you to get out of this!"

"Alexis… you're here too?" Chazz spoke as his face turned bright red.

"C'mon Chazz! Give me all you got," Jaden dared.

"You bet I will," Chazz told him as he drew his next card. "I'm going to show you and everyone here just how powerful I really am! For my first move, I banish Ojamadification from my Graveyard to shuffle Ojama Yellow, Ojama Black and Ojama Green back into my deck and draw one card! Next I summon V-Tiger Jet in Attack Mode!"

Materializing on Chazz's side of the field was a yellow and teal jet-like aircraft. It had a mechanical head resembling that of a tiger, along with a pair of mechanical paws on its front. On the vehicle's rear near its two engines was another pair of short mechanical legs.

"Next I play the card I set earlier, Frontline Base!" Chazz announced.

"What! You mean that card was a bluff this whole time?" Jaden asked.

"And it worked like a charm," Chazz confirmed. "I activate the effect of Frontline Base and special summon the Union monster, W-Wing Catapult!"

Appearing next to V-Tiger Jet was a fairly large blue box-like aircraft. It had duel engines on its rear, along with a pair of wings on its sides and another pair on its top.

"I combine V-Tiger Jet and W-Wing Catapult to summon VW-Tiger Catapult!" Chazz announced.

The pair of wings on top of W-Wing Catapult retracted into its haul. This allowed V-Tiger Jet to attach itself to the larger aircraft's back, combining them into one.

"Next I combine VW-Tiger Catapult and XYZ-Dragon Cannon to form VWXYZ-Dragon Catapult Cannon!" Chazz announced.

Both of Chazz's mechanical monsters disassembled and recombined into a single monster. W-Wing Catapult split apart and became a pair of legs that attached themselves to Y-Dragon Head's underside. Meanwhile Y-Dragon Head's wings had returned and attached themselves to the robot's back. Z-Metal Tank's two treads and become a pair of arms held by X-Head Cannon's original arms, which had retracted into its body. Meanwhile V-Tiger Jet's head had become a helmet for X-Head Cannon's original head.

"Chazz now has two of his strongest monsters out on the field," Axel observed. "Looks like Jaden's gonna lose this one."

"And now… I combine Armed Dragon LV7 and VWXYZ-Dragon Catapult Cannon to form Armed Dragon Catapult Cannon!" Chazz announced.

"Say what!" Jaden exclaimed.

Suddenly Dragon Catapult Cannon disassembled again and its components attached themselves to Armed Dragon. Z-Metal Tanks treads became armor for the dragon's arms, while X-Head Cannon's arms attached to the sides of the dragon's torso. Y-Dragon Head's torso and head attached themselves to Armed Dragon's chest, while its large mechanical wings attached themselves to the wing blades on the dragon's back. The rest of the robots components docked onto Armed Dragon's back underneath its wings.

"No way…" a stunned Jaden spoke.

"I don't believe it," an equally stunned Alexis declared.

"Well, that was unexpected," Yubel remarked.

"A combination of Chazz's two strongest monsters," Axel observed. "And with 3500 ATK too. I bet its effect is killer."

"I activate Armed Dragon Catapult Cannon's effect!" Chazz announced. "I remove one card in my deck from play to banish all cards from my opponent's field and Graveyard!"

Chazz's composite monster fired a beam of blue energy from the mechanical dragonhead on its chest at Jaden's side of the field, washing the area out in an explosion of blue light. When the light cleared, Jaden's side of the field was totally empty.

"Armed Dragon Catapult Cannon, attack Jaden directly!" Chazz commanded. "Armed Dragon Hyper Cannon!"

Armed Dragon breathed out a stream of orange energy and fired every weapon built into its cybernetic body at Jaden, washing his side of the battlefield out in smoke and flames. When the smoke finally cleared, Jaden was still standing but his life points had dropped to 500.

"You may have survived this turn, but this is the end of the line for you!" Chazz declared. "While Armed Dragon Catapult Cannon is on the field, my opponent can't activate any cards with the same name as a card that's been removed from play. One of the cards banished from your Graveyard by Armed Dragon's effect was Polymerization, which means you can no longer perform any normal Fusions. I'll end my turn there."

"I'm starting to doubt a little that Jaden can still win this," Alexis admitted.

"You worry too much, Alexis," Yubel told her. "I'll admit that this new Armed Dragon Fusion strategy of Chazz's is powerful, but it's also quite fragile. Once you get over the shock and awe and remember the kind of cards that Jaden has at his disposal, you'll see what I mean."

Jaden smirked as he drew his next card. "I gotta say Chazz, that Armed Dragon Catapult Cannon of yours really caught me off guard. But I'm about to take it down right now! I activate the Spell card, Fake Hero and special summon Elemental Hero Neos!"

Materializing on Jaden's side of the battlefield was a green-eyed warrior in some kind of alien body suit. He was primarily white in color, but parts of his suit were dark-blue and his hands were black. Red lines ran over the front of the warrior's torso and down his legs, and in the center of his chest was a dark-blue gemstone with three red triangles arranged with the points facing away from it. There were white spikes on the warrior's elbows that curved upward, and another large white spike that curved backward grew from the top of the warrior's head.

"Next I summon Neo-Spacian Grand Mole in Attack Mode!" Jaden announced.

Appearing next to Neos was a mammalian creature covered in brown fur that resembled a mole. Its shoulders were clad in grey armor that looked like a drill bit split down the middle.

"Next I activate the Field Spell, Neo Space!" Jaden announced.

Suddenly the top of the skyscraper had transformed into a vast starry expanse in the middle of a multicolored nebula.

"Thanks to Neo Space, Neos gains 500 ATK!" Jaden announced.

"So it's ATK is 3000. That won't help you against my Armed Dragon Catapult Cannon," Chazz pointed out.

"No. But you should know what's about to come next, Chazz," Jaden told him.

After a moment, Chazz's eyes suddenly widened as he realized what Jaden was talking about. "Oh dammit!"

"I contact fuse Neos and Grand Mole to summon Elemental Hero Grand Neos!" Jaden announced.

On cue, Neos and Grand Mole leapt high into the sky and faded totally out of site. A moment later, Neos dropped back down onto the battlefield in in a different form. His torso and lower legs had become covered in thick olive-green, and he wore and olive green helmet adorned with five spikes arranged like a mane. Meanwhile, parts of the hero's original white bodysuit had turned brown. A large drill covered Neos's right hand, while a large armored claw covered his left hand.

"Just like Neos, Grand Neos gains 500 from the power of Neo Space," Jaden continued. "Now I activate Grand Neos's effect! Once per turn, Grand Neos can return one of my opponent's monsters to the hand! And the monster I choose is Armed Dragon Catapult Cannon!"

A large black bubble appeared around Chazz's composite monster. When the bubble faded, Armed Dragon Catapult Cannon had vanished from the field. With his ace monster gone, all the color drained from Chazz's face.

"Neos! Attack Chazz directly!" Jaden commanded. "Nebula Shot!"

Neos fired a wave of black energy from the drill on his arm that struck Chazz in the chest. The attack knocked Chazz onto his back, and his life points dropped from 3000 to zero in an instant. With the duel at an end, Neos vanished from the field and the surrounding area returned to normal. The other spectators who had been watching the duel all applauded.

"That's game!" Jaden declared as he did his trademark victory pose.

"You get what I'm talking about now, right Alexis?" Yubel asked. "That Armed Dragon Catapult Cannon of Chazz's is powerful, but it's hardly unstoppable. Plus it takes so many resources to get it onto the field that once it was taken out Chazz's whole strategy fell apart. Things might've been different if Chazz had bothered to put some kind of defense in place to protect that composite dragon of his, but he was so concerned with trying to show off for you that he thought his so-called ultimate monster was unstoppable."

"You're right. Chazz didn't even set any cards to block Jaden's attack," Alexis recalled. "Once again, Chazz's pride led to his downfall."

"Actually in this case, it was more like insecurity," Yubel told her. "Like I said, the only reason he even summoned that Armed Dragon Fusion was to show off for you. It might also have been a very different duel if Chazz had stuck with just Armed Dragon LV7 and XYZ-Dragon Cannon."

Jaden walked up to Chazz and held out his hand to help him up. "That was a pretty great duel, Chazz. I just wish we could've fought each other in the tournament. We'll definitely have to do this again sometime."

Chazz knocked Jaden's hand away and got back to his feet. "We're definitely going to do this again! Right here and now!"

"What! Um, you sure it couldn't wait until tomorrow?" Jaden asked. "I'm actually a little worn out."

"No way! I'm not leaving until I prove once and for all that I'm stronger than you!" Chazz told him.

"Lay off, Chazz!" Alexis order as she stormed up to the two. Axel followed a few steps behind her. "Jaden is not up for another duel right now!"

"But… but Alexis…" Chazz spoke.

"I need to have another word with Jaden," Alexis told him. "Alone."

"But…" Chazz spoke.

"C'mon man," Axel told Chazz as he grabbed his arm. "Let's give these two some space."

With that, Axel escorted Chazz to the far railing of the roof to look out over the city, far enough away so that Jaden and Alexis could have their private chat.

"What's up Lex?" Jaden asked.

Alexis let out a heavy sigh. "Okay… before I got back to see the highlights of your duel, I got a phone call from my brother."

"And I know about what the call was about thanks to my link with Alexis," Yubel added as she reappeared. "What we learned explained everything about Chazz's behavior during the duel and just now before Axel pulled him away."

"What're you guys talking about?" Jaden asked.

"Well… how should I put this?" Alexis began.

"Chazz is head over heels in love with Alexis," Yubel stated bluntly. "In fact it seems he's carried a torch for her since your first year at the academy. I can't blame the guy, since Alexis is drop-dead gorgeous and everything."

"What!" a shocked Jaden exclaimed. "Lex, you don't… feel the same way about Chazz, do you?"

"What! No! Of course not," Alexis assured him. "For one thing, Chazz tends to get too full of himself."

"But Chazz still has feelings for Alexis," Yubel continued. "And he found out that you and she have started dating from Alexis's brother. He didn't take the news well. That's why he came here to duel you today. He wants to beat you in the hopes that Alexis will be so impressed that she'll toss you aside for him."

"No way that something like that would impress me that much," Alexis added.

"Oh… so that's why you said before that dueling Chazz felt like dueling Hiroki," Jaden recalled.

"That's right," Yubel confirmed. "Though I have to admit that Chazz isn't quite as big a flake as Hiroki."

"Anyway, we need to talk this whole thing out with Chazz," Alexis told them.

"Yeah but… I'm not really good at this sort of thing, guys," Jaden told them as he rubbed the back of his head.

"No kidding," Alexis and Yubel said together.

"Jaden Yuki!" Chazz spoke as he stormed back up to the three, getting their attention. "We still have a score to settle, and I'm not leaving until it is!"

"Sorry guys. I tried to stop him," Axel told them. "I don't know what the hell's gotten into him."

"Uh, look Chazz. We all need to have a serious talk," Jaden told him. "Alexis just told me what this is all about."

"We can talk after I pound you into the ground!" Chazz told him.

"Excuse me," a voice interrupted.

Jaden and the others looked, and standing before them was a short man with dark-brown hair and a scar on his right cheek. He had on a black suit with a navy-blue tie and a pair of glasses with square frames.

"Which one of you is Jaden Yuki?" the man asked.

"Um, that'd be me," the wandering pro duelist answered as he raised his hand.

"It's a pleasure to meet you," the brown-haired man responded. "My name's Fred Patterson. I'm an aide to the mayor. You see the mayor heard about your recent victory in this city's tournament and wanted to congratulate you in person. So he sent me here to get you."

"How'd the mayor even know that Jaden was here?" Axel asked with a look of suspicion.

Patterson chuckled. "Well, he had our fine NYPD scour the whole city for you. You see the mayor is a huge dueling buff, and he couldn't help but use all of the resources at his disposal to find out where you were. Once one of our officers spotted your location, he radioed it in and I was sent to come and get you. Now, there's a limo waiting for you right outside the building. Of course your friends are more than welcome enough to tag along."

"What do you think?" Jaden asked Alexis.

"It would be kind of neat to meet the mayor of New York," Alexis admitted.

"Okay then. Lead the way, Mr. Patterson," Jaden spoke.

"I'm coming too!" Chazz declared. "I'm not leaving until I settle my score with Jaden Yuki."

"There's no way you're shaking me," Axel told them.

With that, Patterson led everyone to the elevator and took them all to the ground floor. Outside the building they found a black limo waiting for them. As they headed for the vehicle, Axel noticed that the driver was a large dark-skinned man with a burn scar on his cheek. Patterson opened the rear door of the vehicle for Jaden and the others, allowing them to get in. Once the passengers were secure, Patterson got into the front seat.

"You okay Axel?" Jaden asked. "You seem kind of on edge."

"There's just something about this that doesn't seem right," Axel told them.

Before anyone could ask what Axel meant, the doors to the car suddenly locked tight. The window separating the driver and the passengers closed shut as well, and suddenly the cabin started to fill with a strange purple gas. Jaden and the others began to cough upon breathing the gas in.

"Dammit!" Axel cursed. "I knew this was…"

Axel lost consciousness before he could finish his sentence. Chazz and Alexis were knocked out a split second later. Jaden tried with all his might to remain conscious, but in a matter of seconds his entire world went dark.

* * *

 **Author's Note:** In a way, it's kind of a good thing that this story got delayed for a year or more. That's because during that time period, we ended up getting all those new cards from the upcoming Legendary Duelist: Ancient Millennium set. This of course includes Armed Dragon Catapult Cannon, arguably the most absurd Fusion Monster ever conceived. Konami really tried like hell to unite all three of the major archetypes used by Chazz. I'll admit that Ojamadification is a good support card for XYZ-Dragon Cannon and all its mechanical relatives, but to me Armed Dragon Catapult Cannon doesn't really seem worth the trouble of summoning. In fact it's even harder to summon now in the real world version of the card game thanks to the monster zone restrictions.

Viper's revenge is now finally about to begin, so stay tuned. In the meantime, please review and let me know what you think.


	3. The New Survival Duels

**Author's Note:** So with the demands of my current job, I'll probably only be able to update this story just once or twice a week at most. I'll try to make each chapter worth the wait though.

 **Disclaimer:** I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh! GX.

* * *

Chapter 2: The New Survival Duels

Jaden slowly awoke to find that he was lying on some soft damp surface. As the brown-haired duelist gradually opened his eyes, he found that he was in the middle of some sort of vast jungle. Jaden also soon discovered that he had on his duel disk, and clamped around his right wrist was some sort of silver-colored manacle with a green rectangular screen on the top. As Jaden finally got to his feet, he saw Alexis slumped against a tree, still unconscious. Axel and Chazz were on the ground out cold a few feet away.

Immediately, Jaden went over and began to shake Alexis by the shoulder to wake her up. "Hey! Lex! You okay?"

After a moment, Alexis finally stirred. "Huh? What happened?"

"Not sure. But we're definitely not in New York anymore," Jaden answered.

Alexis soon got to her feet and discovered that she also had on her duel disk and the same type of manacle that Jaden had on. "This person who's been trying to kill you… he's struck, hasn't he?"

"That's probably a pretty safe guess," Jaden answered. "I'm just sorry you had to get swept along for the ride."

Moments later, Chazz and Axel regained consciousness and got to their feet. Like Jaden and Alexis, they also had on the same type of manacle as their companions.

"Dammit!" Axel cursed. "I should've known that limo was a trap the moment I got a look at the driver. He gave off the vibe of a mercenary. Hell, there was even something fishy about that Patterson guy."

"What the hell's going on here?" Chazz demanded to know.

"Someone's been trying to kill me," Jaden answered. "That's kind of why Axel was here. He sort of showed up to act as my bodyguard."

"And you got Alexis involved in this mess of yours?" an outraged Chazz asked. "You bastard!"

"Chazz, just calm down!" Alexis told him. "Jaden didn't know anything like this would happen! Besides, it was my choice to get involved. I wanted to be close to Jaden so I could help him face who or whatever this threat is."

"But Alexis…" Chazz spoke.

Before Chazz could finish what he was going to say, a beam of blue light suddenly shot from the trunk of a nearby tree. The end of the beam turned into a transparent image of Viper, who had on a uniform similar to the one he wore during his time at Duel Academy.

 _"Jaden Yuki. At last we meet again,"_ Viper spoke. _"And Yubel. I know you can hear and see me too, for I know all about your rather unique relationship with Jaden."_

"Dammit!" Yubel cursed as she appeared next to Jaden. "This time I hate being right."

Meanwhile all the color had drained from Jaden's face. "Professor Viper? How… how are you even alive? I saw Yubel send you to your death!"

 _"And I have clawed my way back from that abyss for the sole purpose of getting my revenge on both you and Yubel!"_ Viper told him.

"You're the one who set up for Jaden to get killed in that virtual reality project at Kaiba Corp, aren't you?" Alexis deduced.

 _"Indeed I was,"_ Viper confirmed as a sinister smile returned to his face. _"I thought it would've been a fitting way to eliminate Jaden once and for all, but I can see killing him is going to require a more hands-on touch."_

"Just what twisted game are you up to this time, Viper?" Axel asked.

 _"Ah, if it isn't my former subordinate, Axel Brodie,"_ Viper observed with amusement. _"You being here is quite the bonus, as I can make you pay for your treachery in addition to getting my revenge on Jaden and Yubel. To answer your question, we're going to be holding a new round of survival duels like the ones I held at the academy. Only instead of bio-bands, the devices attached to your wrists are designed to inject you with a fatal poison the moment your life points reach zero in a duel. Now, I turn your attention to the tree directly behind you. Attached to it you'll find a device that will be essential to your survival."_

On cue, a beeping noise began to come from the tree in question. Jaden and the others looked and found a small black box-like device with a small green screen and a pad of white buttons on the front. Axel walked over and took the device from the tree to examine it.

"This thing is showing some kind of map," Axel informed the others.

 _"That is correct,"_ Viper responded. _"The map is a route to my base in this jungle. Only by reaching that location and defeating me will you be able to remove the poison bands on your arms and return to New York. You should also know that I've hired a few old mercenary friends of mine to be part of this little event. They've hidden themselves at various locations along the route to my base. It goes without saying that the only way for you to advance is to defeat them all."_

"Dammit Viper! If you have a score to settle with Yubel and I, fine! But leave Alexis and the others out of it!" Jaden demanded.

 _"No. And the fact that you don't want them involved in this little game is even more of a reason to keep them in it,"_ Viper told him. _"You see I don't want to just kill you Jaden. I want you and Yubel to both suffer in agony before you die, and the best way to do that is to go after your friends."_

"You psycho!" Chazz cut in. "If Jaden doesn't kill you, I will!"

At this, Viper laughed. _"You're more than welcome to try. Just so you know, I have the route to my base under surveillance, so I'll be aware of every step you take. I'll enjoy watching to see which one of you dies first."_

With that, the hologram of Viper disappeared. Jaden and the others gathered together to figure out their next move.

"So what do we do now?" Chazz asked.

"We have no choice but to play along with Viper's game," Axel told them. "We have no idea where we are other than what this map is telling us. My guess is Viper dropped us miles away from any town or city. We don't even know how long we were unconscious."

"But how do we know that this map of Viper's won't just lead us to the end of a cliff?" Chazz pointed out.

"Viper's gone to too much trouble just to end things like that," Jaden told him. "He wants to finish me with his own hands after trying to make me suffer."

"So how far is it to Viper's base?" Alexis asked.

"Well… given the time of day, we'll probably have to camp out for at least one night," Axel reasoned, looking at the position of the sun in the sky through the hole in the trees above them. "We should get there by midday tomorrow at the latest, assuming we don't run into any major obstacles."

"Good thing I left plenty of food out for Pharaoh back at the hotel," Jaden remarked.

"We should probably head out as soon as we can," Axel told them.

"Actually Axel… before we go, could you and Chazz give me and Alexis a minute?" Jaden requested.

"Why the hell should we?" Chazz asked.

"Please Chazz. This is important," Alexis told him.

"We can give you a couple of minutes, but no more," Axel told them. "It's best that we get as far as we can before nightfall."

With that, Axel headed off towards the edge of the clearing to give Jaden and Alexis the space they needed. Chazz grudgingly followed after him a few seconds. With the other two gone, Jaden and Alexis turned their attention to Yubel. The demon was sitting on the ground against a tree hugging her knees to her chest, and a sad expression was on her face.

"Of all the things to come back and bite me in the ass, this is the worst," Yubel spoke.

"Yubel, there was no way you could've known any of this would happen," Jaden pointed out. "We all thought that Viper was dead."

"Maybe, but if I hadn't used Viper in the first place, he wouldn't be trying to kill us now," Yubel responded.

"Blaming yourself isn't going to do any good," Alexis told her. "The important thing now is that we work to get out of this mess."

Yubel looked up at the two. "Don't either of you blame me for any this?"

"Of course not," Jaden assured her. "For one thing, you weren't in your right mind when you used Viper in the first place. Now let's get going."

After a moment, Yubel got back to her feet. "Okay. Let's go settle things with Viper once and for all."

At that moment, Axel returned. "I think that's long enough. We better get a move-on."

With that, Jaden and Alexis rejoined Axel and Chazz, and the four set off into the jungle. Axel led the way, as he was the one with the map and was trained for surviving in such environments like the one Viper had trapped them in. Alexis followed a step behind Axel, while Jaden followed after her, leaving Chazz to take up the rear. After what seemed like half an hour of walking, Jaden fell back to have a word with his old rival.

"So Chazz, this might not be the best time to bring this up, but I think maybe you and I need to have a talk about my relationship with Alexis," Jaden told him.

"You can just cram it," Chazz told him. "I'm only going to save this. Not only do you not deserve someone like Alexis, you're the worst thing ever to happen to her."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Jaden asked.

"You really are an idiot, you know that?" Chazz angrily responded. "I'm talking about what's happening now, and what happened years ago when you took us on that little quest to rescue Jesse! You keep dragging everyone around you into some kind of mess! Now because of you, Alexis is once again in mortal danger! She deserves someone who can keep her safe, and that's not you!"

"Why don't you just back off, Princeton!" Yubel told Chazz as she reappeared. "First of all, if you want to blame someone for us trapped in Viper's little death game, blame me. I'm a large part of the reason why Viper is after us in the first place. But besides all that, Alexis is totally out of your league."

"Now wait just a damn minute!" a voice suddenly interrupted.

Appearing to float next to Chazz was a small yellow humanoid creature with a head that looked too big for its body. Its face had a pronounced nose, a large mouth with red lips, and two eyes attached by flexible stocks like the eyes of a slug. The only thing the creature had on was a red speedo with yellow polka dots. This was one of Chazz's Duel Monster spirit partners, Ojama Yellow.

"Where the hell do you get off sayin' someone like Alexis is outta the boss's league?" Ojama Yellow asked Yubel. "I'll have you know that he's twice the man that your wimpy partner is!"

"That's right!" another voice chimed in.

Materializing next to Ojama Yellow was a small flabby humanoid creature with pitch-black skin and an oversized head. His face had two beady yellow eyes, a pronounced nose, and a large mouth. The creature wore a speedo identical to the one worn by Ojama Yellow. This was one of Ojama Yellow's two brothers, Ojama Black.

"Not only is the boss a better duelist than Jaden Yuki, he's also smarter and way more reliable!" Ojama Black declared.

"Yeah!" another voice cut in.

Appearing beside the other two monsters was a small green humanoid creature with a somewhat muscular body and an oversized head. It totally lacked a nose and had but a single yellow eye with a red iris, along with a large mouth full of flat white teeth. He had on a speedo like the ones worn by the other two Ojama monsters. This was the third and final member of the Ojama Brothers, Ojama Green.

"The boss is the type of guy a lady like Alexis can depend on!" Ojama Green declared. "If that stupid partner of yours really knew what was good for her, he'd step aside and let the boss have Alexis!"

"You said it, guys!" Ojama Yellow agreed. "And another thing! With the boss as her girlfriend, Alexis wouldn't have to deal with someone who had a freak show like you as a partner!"

"What did you just call me?" a slightly enraged Yubel asked, causing the Ojama Brothers to flinch. "Listen you little twerps, the last thing I need right now is to deal with idiots like you. So if you don't get out of my sight right now, I'm going to rip you all to shreds!"

"We're sorry ma'am!" Ojama Yellow spoke as he bowed profusely to Yubel.

"That's right! We didn't mean nothin' by it!" Ojama Green added as he performed the same action.

"We were just stickin' up for our boss is all!" Ojama Black added.

"Yellow, you and the others stay out of this," Chazz told him. "I can handle this on my own."

"Yes boss," Ojama Yellow responded before he and his two brothers vanished.

"That goes for you too as well, Yubel," Chazz told her. "This is between me and Jaden."

"But technically I'm a part of Jaden, so I say this involves me as well," Yubel responded. "And since we're on that little subject, I might as well tell you that I'm a part of Alexis now too."

"What! What's that supposed to mean?" a surprised Chazz asked.

"Well… that's kind of a long story," Jaden began as he rubbed the back of his head. "It happened a while ago when I was visiting Alexis at Duel Academy America. You see it turned out that one of the teachers served an incarnation of the Light of Destruction, and…"

"Oh I don't believe you!" Chazz exclaimed. "You just proved my point, Jaden! Everywhere you go, chaos seems to follow you! You should be ashamed of yourself for letting Alexis get caught up in all that!"

With that, Chazz pushed on ahead of Jaden and closer to Alexis and Axel.

"Why do I feel like I just threw gasoline on a flame?" Jaden asked.

"Bringing up the incident with Electra and Zott probably wasn't the best move," Yubel agreed. "Of course I probably didn't help much by bringing up my special relationship with Alexis."

Up ahead, Alexis was letting out a heavy sigh as she put a hand on her face.

"Not that it's any of my business, but I kinda wish you, Jaden and Princeton weren't going through this relationship drama of yours," Axel told her. "That sort of thing can cause some problems in a situation like this."

"I know. Chazz showing up in New York like that was really bad timing," Alexis declared.

"At least Jaden and Chazz are able to go at least a little bit without fighting," Axel remarked. "I mean there was that long pause between the two of them."

"Oh that's right. You only heard the part of that conversation with Jaden and Chazz," Alexis realized.

"What do you mean?" Axel asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Uh… never mind," Alexis answered.

"You know, you seem kinda different from before," Axel observed. "I can't quite put my finger on what it is though."

"Well, I sort of went through a few changes recently," Alexis revealed. "It's kind of a long story."

Before the conversation could get any further, Axel heard the sound of a twig snapping nearby. Axel held up his hand, signaling the others to stop. The four stood silently, waiting for several moments for something to happen. Suddenly a dark shape burst out of the surrounding foliage and rushed towards Axel. Axel quickly sidestepped the attack and delivered a roundhouse kick to his assailant, only for the enemy to block it with one of his arms. The attacker in question turned out to be Hudson.

"Not bad, kid," Hudson praised. "Of course you'd have to have some skills to have once worked with someone like Commander Viper."

"You! You're that limo driver from before!" Axel realized as he backed down.

"The name's Barry Hudson," the mercenary responded. "And I'm your first opponent. If you punks want to get to Commander Viper, you'll have to get through me first."

"In that case, I'll take you on!" Jaden decided as he stepped forward. "I'm the one that Viper's after."

"Jaden, wait! Maybe you should let one of us handle him," Alexis suggested.

"I could probably take him on," Axel offered.

"No way! I'm not letting you guys risk your lives if you don't have to," Jaden responded. "This is my fight!"

"But Jaden…" a worried Alexis spoke.

"Let him do this, Alexis," Chazz told him. "He's the reason we're in this mess to begin with."

"Chazz, I cannot believe you just said something like that!" Alexis snapped. "How could you be so heartless?"

"But Alexis…" a stunned and somewhat hurt Chazz spoke.

"You're Jaden Yuki, right?" Hudson identified. "You're the reason why the commander is doing all this in the first place. I don't know what the hell you did to him, but it'll be a real treat for me to hand him your corpse."

"That's not gonna happen!" Jaden declared.

"We'll see about that, kid," Hudson told him as he activated the black duel disk on his arm. "I hear you're a pretty hotshot duelist, but you just bit off more than you can chew."

"We'll see about that!" Jaden responded as he activated his own duel disk. "Game on!"

* * *

Please review and let me know what you think.


	4. Survival of the Fittest

**Author's Note:** I wasn't sure when I'd actually get this chapter up because of all the site errors that have been happening lately. Everything seems to be working okay at the moment though, so without delay I bring you the next installment of this story.

 **Disclaimer:** I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh! GX.

* * *

Chapter 3: Survival of the Fittest

"I'll let you go first, kid," Hudson decided as he drew his opening hand. "Seems only fair that I give you a chance to defend yourself before I beat you to a bloody pulp."

Jaden scowled as he drew his first card. "I summon Elemental Hero Clayman in Defense Mode!"

On cue, Jaden's stone-armored hero materialized in a kneeling position on his side of the battlefield.

"I lay down a facedown and end my turn!" Jaden announced.

Hudson drew his first card. "I summon Ancient Crimson Ape in Attack Mode!"

Materializing on Hudson's side of the field was a large red muscular ape creature with long golden hair and a bushy gold beard. It had brown armor covering its torso, waist, shoulders and wrists. Tied to the beast's left arm was a large shield made of dark-grey stone. In its right hand the ape wielded a large curved sword with a long blade. The ape roared as soon as it appeared on the field.

"Hey! What're you trying to pull?" an outraged Jaden asked. "You can't summon a monster like that right away!"

"That's right! Ancient Crimson Ape is a level seven monster!" Axel pointed out. "It can't be summoned normally unless you sacrifice two other monsters first!"

At this, Hudson chuckled. "That's right. I almost forgot to tell you the little house rule we'll be using in these duels."

"House rule?" Jaden repeated. "What're you talking about?"

"You kids know about the famous Duelists Kingdom Tournament, right?" Hudson asked. "The preliminary duels of that tournament were played using those old oversized duel stadiums placed all over the island owned by Maximillion Pegasus. Because the stadiums were each placed in different microclimates, Pegasus decided to apply Field Spell effects to the duels based on where those stadiums were placed on the island."

"What's that have to do with you cheating just now?" Jaden asked.

"I'm saying that these survival duels we're fighting uses a similar rule to the one used in the Duelist Kingdon prelims," Hudson explained. "This jungle we're standing in is treated as a Field Spell called Primeval Jungle. It came into play the moment our duel disks were switched on. And one of the effects of Primeval Jungle is that all level five or higher Beast, Beast-Warrior, Insect, Plant and Reptile monsters can be normal summoned or set on the field without sacrificing another monster."

"Seriously!" Jaden exclaimed.

"I should've guessed that Viper would pull a stunt like this," Axel remarked. "At least we now have an idea of what type of decks that his other assassins will be using though."

"Yeah, but we're also at a big disadvantage," Chazz pointed out. "None of us use decks that have monsters that can take advantage of this field effect."

"Now that I've gotten the explanation of the house rule out of the way, I activate the Spell card, Call of the Forest King!" Hudson announced. "When I have a level seven or higher Beast monster on the field, Call of the Forest King lets me special summon a level four or lower Beast monster from my deck! I summon Green Forest Tiger!"

Ancient Crimson Ape let out a loud shriek that echoed through the forest and caused Jaden and the others to cover their ears. When the cry ended, a tiger with green fur and dark-brown stripes appeared next to the red ape. It had yellow eyes and long yellowed incisors like a saber-toothed cat. Brown armor similar to the kind worn by Ancient Crimson Ape covered the feline's back and shoulders.

"Green Forest Tiger gains 300 ATK when there's a Field Spell in play," Hudson revealed. "And since the jungle we're fighting in is treated as a Field Spell, Green Forest Tiger's ATK goes up from 1600 to 1900."

"That's not enough to take down Clayman with his 2000 DEF!" Jaden pointed out.

"Not a problem, since I won't be using Green Forest Tiger to attack that lame superhero of yours," Hudson told him. "By the way, there's one other effect to Primeval Jungle that I forgot to tell you about. While Primeval Jungle is on the field, all Beast and Beast Warrior monsters become able to inflict piercing damage! I attack Clayman with Ancient Crimson Ape! Forest Guard Blade!"

"I activate a Trap!" Jaden announced as Ancient Crimson Ape began to charge across the battlefield. But as Jaden pressed the button on his duel disk to activate his set card, nothing happened. "Huh?"

As soon as he got in striking distance, Ancient Crimson Ape sliced Clayman down the middle with his sword. The two halves of Clayman shattered into particles of gold light and Jaden's life points dropped to 3400.

"Hey! Why didn't my Trap activate?" a stunned Jaden asked.

"Sorry kid. I forgot to mention Green Forest Tiger's other effect," Hudson revealed. "When one of my Beast monsters attacks while Green Forest Tiger is on the field, my opponent can't activate any of his set Spell or Trap cards until after the damage step."

"This is not good!" a worried Alexis spoke. "Hudson has Jaden totally cornered."

"The problem is that this duel is being fought on Hudson's turf," Axel pointed out. "Jaden's been at a huge disadvantage from the very beginning."

"Green Forest Tiger! Attack that punk directly!" Hudson commanded. "Ambush Claw!"

The green tiger charged across the field and then roared as he leapt into the air towards Jaden. The beast managed to slash Jaden across the chest with his razor-sharp claws, bringing his life points down to 1500.

"I set two cards on the field and end my turn," Hudson announced as Green Forest Tiger dashed back over to his side of the battlefield. "Okay kid. Let's see what you're really made of."

* * *

Viper sat in a chair in his base watching Jaden's duel with Hudson on a large screen. An amused smirk was on the former professor's face as he watched Jaden struggling against one of his finest soldiers. It disappointed Viper a bit that it seemed like he wasn't going to have the joy of killing Jaden himself, or that his little game was going to end much sooner than he had planned. Even so, it didn't matter all that much. The only thing that Viper cared about was seeing both Jaden and Yubel dead.

"So this is the strength of your loyal soldiers," a familiar and distorted voice remarked.

Viper looked up and too his right, and sitting in midair was the strange ghostly form of Lucia. She was leaning forward so that her elbows were resting on her knees and her chin was resting on her tented fingers. Though none of her facial features besides her strange star-like eyes could be seen, Viper could swear that Lucia had an expression of utter boredom on her face.

"You can rest assured that Hudson will make quick work of Jaden Yuki," Viper told Lucia. "In the next few turns, our common enemy will be no more than a corpse."

"If you say so," Lucia responded. "Say Viper… I notice that your gallant soldier of fortune doesn't seem to be wearing the same poison-injecting manacles that you placed on Jaden and his friends. Am I to take it that he and your other assassins are exempt from the life or death condition that Jaden and his friend are playing under?"

"That's right," Viper confirmed. "Patterson and Hudson are two of the most loyal men I've served with, and Lamia was my finest student. I will not risk their lives needlessly, even for the cause of my revenge. Besides… this means that in the unlikely event that Hudson or any of the others lose, they'll each get other chances to carry out this mission."

"I see…" Lucia replied. "Well, for your sake, I hope that Hudson is as strong as you say he is."

"You can relax, Lucia. Hudson will not let me down," Viper assured her as he turned his attention back to the screen. "This duel will be Jaden Yuki's end."

* * *

Jaden drew his next card. "I summon Elemental Hero Stratos in Attack Mode!"

On cue, Jaden's metal-winged hero materialized on the battlefield.

"Using the effect of Stratos, I add Elemental Hero Neos to my hand!" Jaden announced. "Next I play the Spell card, Miracle Fusion and fuse Stratos on the field with Clayman in the Graveyard to summon Elemental Hero Great Tornado!"

Stratos flew up into the sky along with a ghostly version of Clayman into a small vortex that had appeared above the battlefield. Dropping down out of the vortex a few moments later was a warrior in green, dark-brown, and yellow-tan armor. Over his left arm, the warrior wore a tattered dark-brown cape. As soon as the new hero touched down, a powerful twister of wind radiated from him over the battlefield and knocked Ancient Crimson Ape and Green Forest Tiger off their feet.

"When Great Tornado is summoned to the field, the ATK of all my opponent's monsters is cut in half!" Jaden announced. "Great Tornado! Attack Green Forest Tiger! Super Cell!"

"I activate my Trap, Staunch Defender!" Hudson announced. "This card allows me to redirect your monster's attack to another monster I control! I change Great Tornado's target to Ancient Crimson Ape!"

Great Tornado raised his arms above his head and created a massive twister of wind. As the hero swung his arms down, the twister thrust down and struck Ancient Crimson Ape in the chest. The ape guardian shattered into particles of gold light upon being hit and Hudson's life points dropped to 2500.

"And now because one of my Beast monsters was destroyed, I pay 1000 life points and summon a new monster from my hand!" Hudson announced. "I call forth Green Baboon, Defender of the Forest!"

Appearing in Crimson Ape's place was a muscular hulking green ape resembling a gorilla. It had long black hair and a bushy black beard. The creature wore armor that was practically identical to the kind worn by Ancient Crimson Ape. In its left hand, the beast carried a large wooden club that looked like it had been made from an old log or the thick branch of a tree.

"And now I activate my other Trap, Forest Guard's Revival!" Hudson announced. "By sacrificing a Beast monster I control, I can bring back a level seven or higher Light Beast monster from my Graveyard! I sacrifice Green Forest Tiger to bring back Ancient Crimson Ape!"

Green Forest Tiger shattered into particles of gold light as a twister of wind suddenly formed around him. When the twister finally subsided, Ancient Crimson Ape appeared the tiger's place.

"Brining Ancient Crimson Ape back isn't going to do you much good," Jaden declared. "Both it and Green Baboon only have 2600 ATK, while Great Tornado has an ATK of 2800."

"Forest Guard's Revival has one more effect," Hudson continued. "After it revives a monster from the Graveyard, it lets me destroy one face-up monster my opponent controls. And of course the monster I'm destroying is Great Tornado!"

Both of Hudson's apes suddenly cried out and slammed their weapons into the ground, causing a wave of earth to come up and eventually strike Great Tornado. The blast flung the hero of wind into the air and caused him to shatter into particles of gold light.

"It was a nice try kid, but there was never any way you could beat me," Hudson confidently declared. "I'm an expert in hand-to-hand combat, and I've spent the better part of my life fighting in environments like this one. All of that training is reflected in my card strategy. You may be a hotshot pro-duelist, but you've simply been outclassed this time."

"Tell me something… why are you helping Viper?" Jaden suddenly asked. "Is it because he's paying you or something?"

"Why the hell is he asking about something like that now?" a surprised Chazz asked. "What the hell does it matter?"

"I'd kind of like to know the answer to that question too," Axel admitted.

"I guess I may as well tell you," Hudson finally spoke after a moment. "I'll admit I've taken plenty of missions like this for money before, but this one is personal. You see these scars on my face and arms? I got them while on a mission with Commander Viper years ago. We were scouting an old abandoned building for a group of insurgents we were sent in to take down. While trying to open up one of the rooms, I ended up triggering an explosive device.

"Commander Viper saw the device right before it was about to go off and knocked me out of the way right before it exploded. I still got hurt, but it could've been a whole lot worse if the Commander hadn't thrown himself in to save me at that last second. Ever since then, I've owed the Commander a debt that I can never repay. And because of that, I'm going to do everything I can to make you pay for whatever hell you put him through!"

"You have no idea what happened between me and Viper," Jaden told him. "Or what Viper did to my friends or my school."

"You're right. I don't," Hudson admitted. "But I don't really give a damn. You hurt my commander, and that's all you need to know! Now if you're done talking, go ahead and end your turn!"

"…I lay down and facedown and end my turn," Jaden announced.

Hudson drew his next card. "First I play the Spell card, Pot of Greed and draw two more cards from my deck. Then I summon Yellow Baboon, Archer of the Forest in Attack Mode!"

Appearing on Hudson's side of the field was a large yellow muscular ape with red eyes, a long snout, and a mouth full of fangs. It had long dark-blue hair split down the middle and a bushy dark-blue beard. The beast wore armor practically identical to the kind worn by Hudson's other two apes. The creature carried a wooden bow and an arrow with a stone arrowhead.

"This is the end kid!" Hudson declared. "Yellow Baboon! Attack Jaden Yuki directly! Ambush Arrow!"

"I activate my Trap, A Hero Steps in!" Jaden announced as Yellow Baboon took aim at him. The illustration on the card showed Neos jumping in to protect a young woman cornered in an alley by some demonic-looking creature. "When an opponent's monster attacks me directly, this card lets me negate that attack and special summon a Hero monster from my hand! I summon Elemental Hero Neos!"

As soon as Yellow Baboon opened fire, Neos suddenly appeared in front of Jaden and grabbed the arrow in midflight. The hero of space snapped the arrow in half soon after catching it.

"Not good enough!" Hudson declared. "Green Baboon, attack Neos!"

"At this point I activate the Trap card you stopped me from using earlier, Justi-Break!" Jaden announced. When a Normal Monster like Neos is attacked, Justi-Break destroys all monsters on the field in Attack Mode that aren't Normal Monsters!"

As Green Baboon charged towards him, Neos raised his fist into the air a transparent bolt of lightning shot into the sky. The lightning blast came down and split into three, striking all three of Hudson's apes. Upon being hit, all three of forest guardians shattered into particles of light.

"I totally get why you're so loyal to Viper, Hudson. But I'm just as loyal to my friends!" Jaden declared. "And I'm going to do everything I can to keep you and Viper from hurting them!"

* * *

 **Author's Note:** I honestly did not expect to have this chapter done so quickly. I hope that everyone enjoyed the first half of Jaden's duel against Hudson. It probably goes without saying that I wound up fabricating most of the cards that Hudson has used so far. Anyway, I'll probably have the next chapter up here in the next day or two, provided I don't encounter any unexpected delays like suddenly being asked to work an extra shift at my job.

Please review and let me know what you think.


	5. King of the Apes

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh! GX.

* * *

Chapter 4: King of the Apes

"I set one card on the field and end my turn," Hudson announced. "It's your move, kid."

Jaden drew his next card. "If I attack you now with your life points as low as they are… you'll lose."

"So what? That's just how it is," Hudson responded. "Hey, if you're worried that your last attack will actually kill me, don't. Unlike you, I'm not wearing one of the poison bands that you and your friends are stuck with. So even if I lose, I'll be just fine."

"Say what!" an outraged Chazz exclaimed. "Damn that Viper! If he's gonna make us play this death game of his, then the guys he's sending after us should at least play by the same stakes."

"I'm not surprised by this at all," Axel remarked. "Of course this raises a pretty big question. If Jaden does win, is Hudson really gonna let us go on our way?"

"I'm actually kind of glad that Hudson's not playing by the same rules as we are," Alexis told them. "If he was, then Jaden couldn't play as hard as he could against him."

"You feel better now kid?" Hudson asked. "You don't have to hold anything back! Just bring it on!"

"Fine! You asked for it!" Jaden responded. "Neos! Attack Hudson directly! Wrath of Neos!"

Hudson suddenly smirked as Neos charged across the field. "Of course all that being said, don't think for a minute that I'll go down so easily! I activate my Trap, Forest King's Awakening! By removing the materials listed for a Beast-Type Fusion Monster in my deck from the Graveyard, I can Fusion Summon that monster to the field! I banish Green Baboon, Yellow Baboon and Ancient Crimson Ape to summon Cesar, Ape King of the Primeval Forest!"

Just as Neos came in striking distance of Hudson, a pillar of green, yellow and red light suddenly burst up from the ground in front of the mercenary and forced the hero of space back. In moments the light faded away to reveal a gigantic muscular ape with black fur and a grey face. It had a head of long black hair with a streak of silver down the middle, along with bushy black eyebrows and a long black beard. The beast wore stone-grey armor that was similar in design to Hudson's other three apes, and atop its head was a stone crown with a rough red gemstone fitted into the front. In both hands, the ape carried an ancient double-bladed axe with a long dark-brown wooden handle and a horned animal skull attached to the very top.

"That thing looks really tough," Alexis spoke as some of the color drained from her face.

"Cesar gains 300 ATK for each Beast monster in either player's Graveyard," Hudson announced. "Since I still have Green Forest Tiger in the Graveyard, Cesar's ATK goes up from 3500 to 3800. Not only that, all non-Beast monsters on the field lose 500 ATK thanks to Cesar's aura of intimidation, which means that your superhero's ATK is now only 2000. Like I said kid, I won't go down that easily."

Jaden scowled. "I lay down a face-down and end my turn!"

Hudson drew his next card. "I activate the Spell card, Burial from a Different Dimension! Using this card, I return the three monsters I banished to summon Cesar to the field back to the Graveyard! Now with four Beast monsters in my Graveyard, Cesar's ATK goes up to 4700!"

"If Hudson's next attack gets through, Jaden's finished," Axel realized.

"Cesar, attack Neos and end this!" Hudson commanded. "Axe of the Forest King!"

Cesar roared and loomed towards Neos with the head of his massive axe raised in the air. As the beast swung his weapon down towards the space hero, Alexis averted her gaze.

"I activate my Trap, Negate Attack!" Jaden announced. "This card stops Cesar's attack and ends the battle phase!"

Just as the blade of Cesar's axe was about to strike Neos' head, a vortex appeared in front of the hero and repelled the attack. Cesar took a few steps backward as Alexis breathed a heavy sigh of relief.

"You really are a tough little sucker, you know that?" Hudson remarked. "Still, nothing you do now can get you out of the grave I've just dug for you. I'll end my turn here and let you make your peace with the world before I finish you off. At least you'll have a chance to say goodbye to all your friends here."

Jaden drew his next card. "I'm not dead yet. And as long as I've got cards in my deck, I've still got a chance!"

"Denial really is a pitiful thing," Hudson responded. "Fine kid. Say whatever you like. In the end, it won't change anything."

"First I activate Pot of Greed and draw two new cards!" Jaden announced. "Then I activate one of the cards I just drew, Primal Awakening! When Neos is on the field, Primal Awakening lets me add a certain pair of cards to my hand!"

"Primal Awakening? Where did that card come from?" Chazz asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Jaden got it when he visited me at Duel Academy America," Alexis calmly explained.

"Now I activate one of the cards that Primal Awakening let me add to my hand, the Ritual Spell card, Rite of the Primal Flame!" Jaden announced.

Two ornate golden torches suddenly appeared to the left and right of Neos. The heads of both torches bore the symbol that was on the space hero's chest. A red circle lined with strange ancient text then appeared on the ground around the Neos' feet.

"Ordinarily I'd have to sacrifice monsters totaling level eight or more to summon the monster I'm about to bring out," Jaden continued. "But Rite of the Primal Flame also lets me use Neos as the entire tribute cost for the ritual. I sacrifice Elemental Hero Neos to Ritual Summon his ancestral form, Primal Neos!"

Two small red fireballs shot from the torch flames into the gem on Neos' chest. A pillar of red flames shot up from the ground inside the circle and completely engulfed the white hero of space. In moments the flames subsided and the torches used for the ritual vanished. Much of Neos' body had turned light blue. The only parts that had remained white were the front of his neck and the curved horn on his head, and the undersides of his shoulder pads. The red lines on the front of the hero's torso and legs had taken on a more curved appearance.

Grey spikes had grown on Neos' shoulders and he had wide bronze-colored bracelets on his wrists. Hanging down around his waist like a skirt was a tattered brown piece of cloth. With the cloth was a grey belt that had a golden buckle in the shape of a human skull with horns. On his feet, Neos now wore a pair of knee-high boots lined with brown fur. The gem in the center of Neos' chest had turned pinkish-red and had taken on a heart shape. Five red markings in the shape of flames adorned the warrior's chest around them gem, and he had four more flame-shaped markings on his arms. Long orange hair had grown down from the back of Neos' head, and his face had taken on a mask-like appearance with a mouth lined with flat white teeth.

"No way…" a stunned Axel spoke. "A Neos Ritual Monster... where did that come from?"

"Alexis, just what happened when Jaden visited you at Duel Academy America?" Chazz asked.

Alexis said nothing and continued watching the duel.

"Next I summon Neo-Spacian Dark Panther in Attack Mode!" Jaden announced.

Appearing next to Primal Neos was a black panther wearing a black cape with a red underside. Around the cat's neck was a golden collar that had a triangular light-blue gem fitted into the front.

"He's not going to do what I think he is!" a stunned Chazz spoke.

"I contact fuse Primal Neos and Dark Panther to summon Primal Dark Neos!" Jaden announced.

Primal Neos and Dark Panther jumped high into the sky and eventually vanished from sight. A few seconds later, Primal Neos dropped down to the ground in a brand new form. The blue parts of the prehistoric hero's body had turned pitch-black, while the white parts had turned grey. His horn and red hair had been replace by a pair of large cat-like ears on the sides of his head and tufts of black fur on the sides of his face. His fingers were tipped with silver claws, and on his back had grown a large pair of black bat-like wings that were red on the inside. The markings around the gem embedded in the center of the hero's chest had turned purple and had changed from flames to paw marks. In addition to his original belt, the hero wore a tattered toga that looks as if it had been made from the hide of a zebra or some other white animal with black stripes.

"Because Primal Neos was returned to the deck, I activate the effect of Rite of the Primal Flame from the Graveyard and return it to the deck as well!" Jaden announced. "Next I activate the effect of Primal Dark Neos! Once per turn, Primal Dark Neos can negate the effects of a face-up monster on the field! And of course the monster I'm using this effect on is Cesar!"

Neos flexed his chest and fired a stream of pitch-black energy from the gemstone on his chest at Cesar. The attack hit the ape king in the chest and caused him to crackle with black electricity.

"Since Cesar's effects are now negated, his ATK drops back to 3500," Jaden announced.

"Big deal. That stone-age hero of yours still only has an ATK of 2800," Hudson pointed out. "He may have robbed Cesar of his effect, but there's no way he can take him down in battle."

"That's where you're wrong!" Jaden told him. "When Primal Dark Neos negates the effect of a monster on the field, he also gains the original ATK of that monster! Which means Neos' ATK goes up from 2800 to 6300!"

"What!" a stunned Hudson exclaimed.

"Neos! Attack Cesar!" Jaden commanded. "Primal Darkness Claw!"

Primal Dark Neos suddenly jumped into the air and tackled Cesar to the ground. With the ape king on his back, Neos began to scratch Cesar repeatedly. His silver claws easily broke through the ape king's armor and started digging into his chest. Neos clawed into the ape repeatedly for several moments before finally stabbing a hand into his chest. Cesar closed his eyes and shattered into particles of gold light. Primal Dark Neos then rose back to his feet and roared at the sky like a wild cat as Hudson's life points dropped to zero. With the duel over, Neos vanished from the field.

"That's game," Jaden spoke without doing his trademark victory pose. "Now are we done?"

Before Hudson could open his mouth to respond, he suddenly staggered back a step as if hit by something. The mercenary started breathing heavily as he clutched his chest and started sweating. Just as Jaden was about to ask if he was okay, a white light suddenly started to glow from Hudson's chest through his shirt. Jaden and the others could only watch as the light got brighter, and in a matter of seconds Hudson cried out in pain as he lifted his face towards the sky and the light shot out from his eyes and mouth. Hudson's entire body soon appeared as though it was made of light as he dropped to his knees. In a few more seconds, there was nothing left of the mercenary except a set of scorch marks on the ground that marked the place of his knees and feet.

"What the hell just happened?" a startled and horrified Chazz asked.

"Guess Viper's guys are playing with their lives on the line after all," Axel assumed.

"Only it wasn't Viper who did this," Yubel added as she appeared next to Jaden. "There's some other power at work here."

"What do you mean?" Jaden quietly asked.

"Think about it. Viper should've never survived that fall back at Duel Academy," Yubel pointed out. "At best, he should've been paralyzed or in a coma. The only real way Viper could be causing us problems now is if someone revived him and sent him after us."

"So we're dealing with two enemies instead of just one," Jaden realized.

"That's pretty much the size of it," Yubel replied. "The only question is who or what this enemy could be."

* * *

Viper looked at the screen showing Jaden and his friends with a look of horror and rage frozen on his face. After a few moments he finally looked over at Lucia, who was now standing with her arms crossed.

"YOU!" Viper shouted as he rose from his chair. "You did that to Hudson, didn't you?"

"Of course," Lucia calmly answered. "He lost, so he had to pay the penalty. Unlike you Viper, I am a firm believer in the principal of fair play. Besides, if Hudson couldn't defeat Jaden now, there was no way he could ever beat him. He was useless, and therefore disposable."

"You little…" Viper spoke as he moved towards Lucia to strangle her.

Before Viper could get very far though, he felt a burning pain in his chest that caused him to fall to his knees. It felt as though his heart itself was on fire. Lucia meanwhile placed a hand on her hip and seemed to be glaring down at Viper.

"It would be in your best interest to stop and use that pathetic brain of yours," Lucia told him. "First of all, I'm not actually here, so trying to strangle me to death just now would've been totally pointless. Second, you know it's a very bad idea to make me cross. Remember that I'm the one who brought you back to the world of the living, and I can just as easily return you to the dust from whence you came."

After a few moments, the burning pain that Viper was feeling in his chest finally subsided. Once he managed to steady his breathing, Viper got off the ground and staggered back to his chair.

"Feeling a little more compliant I trust?" Lucia asked as she folded her hands behind her back. "This may be your little game, Viper. But I am the one who's running it. Remember that!"

"I… will do as you wish," Viper responded before swiveling his chair back to face the screen.

"I have to say though Viper, I really do doubt the ability of these henchmen of yours after what I've just seen," Lucia remarked as she walked closer to the screen. "If one of them couldn't defeat Jaden Yuki, than I highly doubt that the other two stand much of a chance either."

"In a way, this actually for the best," Viper responded. "Now I can handle Jaden personally. And in the meantime, we can watch as I make him suffer by killing his friends one by one."

* * *

A few minutes after uselessly trying to determine what force had vaporized Hudson, Jaden and the others finally decided to get back on the trail to Viper's base. They had a lot of ground to cover before nightfall. Axel was once again leading the way, as he still had the map. Chazz was walking as step behind him while Jaden and Alexis took up the rear a few steps behind.

"You okay?" Alexis finally asked Jaden. "That duel got pretty rough, didn't it?"

"I'm fine," Jaden assured her. "Actually, I'm a little more worried about you right now. None of that could've have been easy for you to watch."

"Well… I was pretty worried there for a while, especially towards the end after Hudson summoned that Fusion of his," Alexis admitted.

"I'll say," Yubel remarked as she reappeared behind them. "I could feel your anxiety, and it was practically paralyzing."

"Sorry Yubel," Alexis responded. "You can't blame me though, considering all that's at steak here."

"Just remember that Jaden has faced much tougher enemies than Hudson and come out okay," Yubel reminded her. "We're not going to let Viper beat us."

"But it isn't just Viper we're dealing with though, is it?" Alexis deduced. "I have a pretty good idea about what you two were talking about after what happened to Hudson."

"There's some other enemy at work here," Jaden confirmed. "And this enemy could be a whole lot worse than Viper."

* * *

Patterson was laying in wait for Jaden and his friends to enter the perimeter he set up on the trail, not that he was totally expecting them to actually show up. He had laid some cunning traps and was totally confident that his prey would trip one of them in the unlikely event that they did somehow get past Hudson. Booby-traps had always been Patterson's specialty. He had been making them since he was a boy and his father taught him how to trap animals. The first thing he ever caught was a raccoon. His father had made it into a nice cap for him that he always wore out hunting until the day it finally became too small for him.

 _"Patterson, come in,"_ Viper's voice spoke though the communication device in his ear. _"Jaden Yuki and his friends are coming your way."_

"You mean they actually got past Hudson?" a stunned Patterson responded. "How the hell did they manage that?"

 _"That doesn't matter,"_ Viper answered. _"I do have a change of orders though. Jaden Yuki is to be saved for last. I want you to go after his friends first."_

"Not a problem, sir," Patterson responded. "Sir? That one kid in Jaden's group, Axel Brodie… he used to serve under you, didn't he?"

 _"He was a fine soldier,"_ Viper confirmed. _"That was until something made him want to help Jaden Yuki in his fight against me."_

"Then permission to eliminate Brodie first, sir," Patterson requested. "If it's one thing I can't stand, it's traitors."

 _"Proceed as you wish,"_ Viper agreed. _"Just remember that Jaden is to be saved for last."_

"Understood," Patterson responded. "Okay Brodie. You're about to be my first kill."

* * *

 **Author's Note:** I hope everyone enjoyed the conclusion of Jaden and Hudson's duel. When I first came up with the idea of Hudson using a Baboon of the Forest deck, I thought it would be interesting if he used a Fusion of all three of them. By the way, the name Cesar is a _Planet of the Apes_ reference.

Please review and let me know what you think.


	6. Forest Ambush

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh! GX.

* * *

Chapter 5: Forest Ambush

Jaden and the others had been walking through the dense jungle towards Viper's compound for at least two or three hours without incident. During the whole trek, everything had been quiet, perhaps too quiet. They all knew that more assassins were bound to come after them sooner or later, and that they could strike at any time. Axel was being especially vigilant as he led the way, keeping a sharp eye out for any traps that Viper's gang might have set for them. He knew that Viper's minions weren't just duelists, but skilled mercenaries with probably years of combat experience under their belts.

"I can't believe this," Chazz complained, finally breaking the hours of not-so-calm silence. "If Viper really has a score to settle with Jaden, then why doesn't he just come out and face him?"

"Because he wants me to suffer as much as possible first," Jaden darkly answered.

"Yeah? Well I don't see why I had to be dragged into all this!" Chazz responded. "More importantly, Alexis shouldn't be involved in any of this either!"

"Chazz, this is so not the time!" Alexis cut in.

"No Alexis! This is exactly the right time for this!" Chazz argued. "It should be clearer than ever that Jaden attracts trouble wherever he goes!"

"Uh guys? We should really save this for after we get out of here," Jaden spoke, but it seemed like neither Chazz nor Alexis heard him.

"How the hell can you defend him, Alexis?" Chazz asked. "You and I know better than anyone about the kind of chaos that Jaden causes! Hell, this thing with Viper is just the latest example! Before that there was Nightshroud, the incident in the other dimensions, and even the Society of Light! Jaden draw all of that sort of madness towards him like a magnet, and everyone around him gets caught in the crossfire!"

"But none of what happens is Jaden's fault!" Alexis pointed out.

"Of course it is!" Chazz shot back. "And that's because your boyfriend's a freak! He's just not normal!"

"Well you're not exactly normal either!" Alexis argued. "And neither am I, as a matter of fact!"

The argument between Alexis and Chazz only continued to grow as Jaden could only watch. Meanwhile, Axel was somehow able to tune out the dispute that his companions were having and continued keeping a sharp eye out for traps. Eventually the group came to another clearing along the path. Axel made it ten steps into the clearing without anything happening, but as soon as Jaden and the others followed him in a few moments later, they let out a startled cry as something suddenly pulled them into the air.

Axel looked back and saw that Jaden and the others had been caught in a large net made of a dark-grey fabric that was suspended by the trees above. The duelist soldier couldn't believe that he had somehow missed it.

"Great! Just great!" Chazz sarcastically spoke. "This mess just keeps getting worse and worse."

"Well complaining about it isn't going to help!" Alexis shot back.

"Axel, could you maybe give us a hand?" Jaden requested.

"Yeah! I have a knife in my vest that should be able to cut that net," Axel responded.

"Don't bother, kid," a voice spoke. Axel turned back around to see Patterson emerge from the bush with some kind of remote in his hand. "That net your friends are in is made of a special metallic mesh that I designed myself. A crummy pocket knife can't cut through it."

"I was wondering if I'd run into you again," Axel responded. "I have to admit that you're pretty good at setting traps. I didn't even notice the way that net was hidden. One question though, how come I didn't get caught in the net along with Jaden and the others?"

"Because I didn't want you to," Patterson answered as he tossed the remote device in his hand a couple of times. "When you're trying to catch a specific prey, the best traps are the ones you set up manually. I've been here for hours waiting for exactly the right moment to snag your friends in that net."

"I get it. So the one you're actually after is me," Axel deduced.

"Bingo!" Patterson confirmed as he tossed the remote to the ground. "Your buddy Jaden is the commander's primary target, but I want to eliminate you first because I have a bone to pick with you."

"I see…" Axel responded as he drew the large yellow gun hanging at his waist from its holster. "Then let's do this!"

Axel attached the gun to his arm and converted it into a duel disk with a simple pull of the handle. Patterson meanwhile activated his own duel disk and Jaden and the others watched as they drew their opening hands.

"I'll be going first," Patterson announced as he drew his next card. "I set one monster on the field and end my turn."

Axel calmly drew his first card. "When my opponent has a monster on the field while I don't have any, I can special summon Volcanic Trooper from my hand!"

Materializing on Axel's side of the battlefield was a large reptilian creature that was mostly off yellow in color and stood on two legs. It had a head like a dragon, with a long snout, two small red eyes, and a pair of small horns that pointed straight back. The creature's head was supported by a long neck that appeared to be made of dirt-brown and glowing red magma, with plumes of red flames burning on the back of its neck like spikes. On the front of its yellow torso was what appeared to be the barrel of a cannon. It had slender arms and legs that also appeared to be made of magma and ended with thick white claws, along with a long slender tail of magma with more plumes of red flames burning down the back of it almost to the tip.

"Wow! Axel summoned a monster with 2000 ATK right off the bat," an impressed Jaden observed.

"Yeah, but… that might not have been such a good idea," Alexis spoke. "That set monster could be a trap of some kind. I don't know why Axel would take the risk of losing such a strong monster."

"He probably plans to set off whatever trap Patterson just laid to try and get an idea of what he's up against," Chazz assumed.

"I also summon Volcanic Slicer in Attack Mode!" Axel announced.

Appearing next to Volcanic Trooper was a smaller bipedal lizard that was also off yellow in color. It appeared to lack eyes and had a serpent-like body. The creature's arms, while small, seemed fully functional.

"I use Volcanic Trooper to attack your set monster!" Axel announced. "Magma Bullet!"

Volcanic Trooper roared before firing a burning ball of magma from the cannon on its chest. As the projectile hurtled towards its target, the monster that Patterson had set on the field revealed itself to be a very large bipedal insect-like creature with a mostly olive-green exoskeleton. It had a single red eye and a horizontal mouth with thick white mandibles, and on the sides of its head were two large dark-brown horns. Its large hands and feet ended with very long and sharp white claws. On the creature's back were what appeared to be wings.

"Too bad Brodie! The monster you attacked is Nobleman-Eater Bug!" Patterson announced. "When Nobleman-Eater Bug is flipped face-up, its effect lets me destroy two monsters on the field! And of course I use its effect to destroy those two lava monsters of yours!"

Just a split second or two before being hit in the chest by Volcanic Trooper's flaming bullet, Nobleman-Eater Bug skewered Axel's two monsters through the chest with his claws. Axel's monsters shattered into particles of gold light at about the same moment as Patterson's insect monster was hit and destroyed in a blast of fire and smoke.

"When Volcanic Trooper has been sent to the Graveyard, I can add a Blaze Accelerator card from my deck to my hand," Axel announced.

"Hey! I'm calling fowl here!" Jaden protested. "How could Patterson have set Nobleman-Eater Bug on the field without setting another monster first?"

"You idiot. Don't you remember that these duels are played with a Field Spell effect in play?" Chazz reminded him. "The effect allows Viper's soldiers to summon and set high-level Beast, Beast-Warrior, Insect, Plant and Reptile monsters on the field."

"Oh… right," Jaden recalled. "I remembered that it helped Beast monsters, but I forgot about the other types of monsters it helped too."

"So my hunch was right. You use an Insect deck," Axel deduced.

"Sure do," Patterson confirmed. "The nice thing about most Insect monsters is that they're basically another kind of Trap card. And of course my deck mostly contains the regular kind of Trap card as well."

"Looks like I've got my work cut out for me then," Axel observed. "I end my turn."

Patterson drew his next card. "I set one monster on the field. And then… I flip that monster into Attack Mode! Say hello to Trap Weaver!"

The monster that Patterson played on the field revealed itself to be a human-sized purple spider with eight long powder-blue legs. It had four beady green eyes and a pair of sharp grey mandibles. On top of the spider's abdomen in white was the kanji used for Trap cards.

"When Trap Weaver is flipped face-up, I can set two Trap cards directly from my deck onto the field!" Patterson announced.

"Wait a sec!" Jaden protested. "You can't flip summon a monster the same turn you played it face-down on the field!"

"Let me guess. This is because of the field effect in play for this duel, isn't it?" Axel deduced.

"How right you are," Patterson confirmed. "Primeval Jungle allows me to flip summon each Insect monster I set on the field once per turn."

"So Primeval Jungle grants different benefits to each monster type it supports," Axel realized. "Like how it allows Beast and Beast-Warrior monsters to inflict piercing damage."

"You catch on quick," Patterson responded. "Now then, I use Trap Weaver to attack you directly! Ambush Venom!"

The arachnid sprayed a stream of green liquid across the field at Axel. Axel raised his arm to block the spray, but the attack dropped his life points dropped to 3400.

"Good thing that spider monster of Patterson's only has 600 ATK," Jaden noted.

"Yeah, but it might be difficult for Axel to launch a counterattack," Alexis responded. "After, Patterson has two Trap cards set out on the field. It'd be too dangerous for Axel to just charge in."

"I'll end my turn there," Patterson announced. "Okay kid. Let's see you get out of this."

Axel calmly drew his next card. "First I play Blaze Accelerator on the field!"

Appearing on Axel's side of the battlefield was a fairly large grey cannon set atop a tripod. There was an opening in the top of the cannon with a hatch meant for the type of ammunition that the weapon fired.

"I activate Blaze Accelerator's effect!" Axel announced. "By discarding a Pyro-Type monster from my hand with 500 or less ATK from my hand, I can destroy one monster my opponent controls! I discard Volcanic Shell to destroy Trap Weaver!"

Suddenly materializing on Axel's side of the field was a very small yellowish reptilian creature resembling a worm or a serpent surrounded by an aura of red flames. It had no eyes and four small yet long, slender legs. The creature flew up and entered the ammunition chamber on top of Blaze Accelerator. The hatch clicked shut as soon as Volcanic Shell was loaded into the chamber, and the cannon fired. The flaming serpent worm hit Trap Weaver in the face, causing it to explode into a ball of flames. The arachnid shrieked in agony as its body quickly burned away to nothing.

"At this moment, I activate the Continuous Trap, Ambush Reinforcements!" Patterson announced. "Once per turn, when one of my Insect monsters is destroyed by an opponent's card effect, I can set two more Insects from my deck directly onto the field!"

"Patterson's deck has one of the tightest defenses I've ever seen," Chazz remarked. "There's no way Axel can attack him now."

"Yeah, but Axel can't attack this turn anyway since he just used Blaze Accelerator to take out Trap Weaver," Jaden pointed out.

"I summon another Volcanic Slicer in Attack Mode!" Axel announced.

On cue, another bipedal serpent identical to the one that had been destroyed earlier appeared on Axel's side of the battlefield.

"I activate Volcanic Slicer's effect!" Axel announced. "Once per turn, Slicer can inflict 500 points of damage to my opponent at the cost of losing its ability to attack on that turn! But since I can't attack at all this turn because I used Blaze Accelerator, it's no loss! Volcanic Slicer, fire away!"

Volcanic Slicer opened is jaws and fired a molten ball of magma across the battlefield. Just as the ball was about to strike its target though, Patterson smirked.

"I activate another Continuous Trap, Safety Web!" Patterson announced. "Once per turn, when I would take damage from an opponent's card effect, Safety Web lets me banish an Insect from my Graveyard to negate that damage! I banish Nobleman-Eater Bug to block Volcanic Slicer's effect!"

Volcanic Slicer's flaming projectile struck a spider web of multicolored light that appeared in front of Patterson and vanished just as quickly after being struck. The fireball had crumbled into a pile of inert dust after impact and Patterson's life points remained untouched.

"So you decided to attack me and my monsters directly with effects when you realized you couldn't come at me with normal attacks," Patterson observed. "I hate to admit it, but you play pretty good for a damn traitor."

"So you know that I used to work for Viper," Axel realized.

"You're damn right I do!" Patterson confirmed. "And I know that you stabbed him in the back!"

"Yeah… well he did it to me first," Axel responded. "At the time he was my commanding officer, but I realized pretty quickly into the mission I was helping him with that I was nothing more than a pawn; that I was disposable. That's why I sided with Jaden during that mission. Unlike Viper, Jaden actually cared about what happened to me."

"You little punk!" Patterson responded. "One of a soldier's first duties is always to the chain of command! It wasn't your place to go against Commander Viper! And maybe you only thought that Viper didn't care about you because you hadn't proved your loyalty to him! I happen to know for a fact that Viper cares a lot about the men and women under his command!"

"Let me guess. Viper save your life once," Axel deduced.

"That's right," Patterson answered. "During a mission in the Middle East, our unit was tasked with taking out a small band of terrorists that was abusing a local village. I had set up a pretty good ambush for the group's leader, but I got careless. Somehow the guy had gotten past my traps, spotted my sniper's nest and got behind him. Just as the bastard was about to blow my brains out, Commander Viper took him out from his nest across the street. Since then, I've owed the commander a debt that I can never repay."

"Just like Hudson, huh?" Axel realized. "He was just as loyal as you are. And yet Viper still killed him for failing to eliminate Jaden."

A look of utter shock appeared on Patterson's face. "What did you say?"

"I said Hudson's dead," Axel repeated. "I don't know how Viper did it, but he somehow turned Hudson into a white torch that burned away to nothing. I saw it happen with my own eyes."

"We all did!" Chazz added. "It was obviously Viper's punishment for losing!"

"Yeah, but… I don't think that Viper was the one who killed Hudson like that," Jaden whispered.

"It doesn't matter," Yubel told Jaden as she appeared behind him inside the net. "Axel is hoping that the idea of Viper killing Hudson for failing his mission will throw Patterson off his game."

"So ask yourself Patterson, do you truly think Viper is worthy of your loyalty?" Axel asked.

After a moment, Patterson's look of shock turned into one of resolve. "Nice try, kid! As if I'd believe a damn word a traitor like you says! Now are you done with your turn or what?"

Axel sighed. "I set one card on the field and end my turn."

Patterson drew his next card. "First I flip-summon one of my set Insect monsters, Swarm of Scarabs!"

The large set card in question revealed itself to be a massive swarm of red scarab beetles that were gathered into a pile. The rustling and clicking of the swarm's legs and mouths seemed to drown out the other sounds of the forest.

"When Swarm of Scarabs has been flip-summoned, it destroys one monster on the field!" Patterson announced. "I use the swarm's effect to destroy Volcanic Slicer!"

With incredible speed the swarm moved across the field like a single blob and moved across the field. Jaden and the others watched in horror as the beetles totally enveloped Axel's monster. In a matter of seconds, the swarm had totally devoured Volcanic Slicer before moving back to Patterson's side of the field.

"Now I flip-summon my other set monster, Swarm of Locusts!" Patterson announced.

The other large set card on Patterson's field revealed itself as a massive swarm of green locusts that rose into the air like a living cloud. The sound of their buzzing wings was almost deafening.

"When Swarm of Locusts has been flip-summoned, its effect lets me destroy one of my opponent's Spell or Trap cards!" Patterson announced. "I use this swarm's effect to destroy Blaze Accelerator!"

The locusts totally enveloped Axel's cannon in a matter of seconds, and the sound of sharp mandibles biting and chewing into metal could be heard. In moments the swarm finally flew back over to Patterson's side of the field, leaving no trace of Blaze Accelerator."

"I activate my Trap, Volcanic Artillery!" Axel announced. "When Blaze Accelerator has been destroyed by a card effect, I can play another Blaze Accelerator straight from my deck!"

On cue, a brand new Blaze Accelerator cannon appeared on Axel's side of the field.

"I now activate the secondary effects of both Swarm of Scarabs and Swarm of Locusts to flip them face-down again!" Patterson announced.

Both swarms of insects immediately transformed back into their original card forms.

"I set one more monster on the field," Patterson continued. "And then I flip-summon that monster right now using Primeval Jungle! Say hello to my second Trap Weaver!"

The set monster soon revealed itself to be another giant purple spider identical to the one that Axel had destroyed earlier.

"I use Trap Weaver's effect to set two more Traps from my deck directly on the field!" Patterson announced. "And now, I use Trap Weaver to attack you directly! Ambush Venom!"

The spider sprayed a stream of green liquid across the battlefield at Axel. The duelist soldier once again raised his arm to block the spray, but the attack still dropped his life points to 2800.

"That was cheap trick you tried to pull earlier trying to make me think Commander Viper killed Hudson," Patterson declared. "Just for that, I'm going to kill you as slowly and painfully as possible."

* * *

 **Author's Note:** This duel was an interesting one to write, and also kind of challenging. One difficulty I have with writing duels for these GX stories is the fact that I'm a bit limited by what deck archetypes I can use. I mean I can use cards like Armed Dragon Catapult Cannon or any of the newer Ancient Gear cards introduced during ARC-V (yes, Crowler will show up in at least one future story) since they're expansions of major archetypes used by those characters. But when it comes to figuring out decks for OCs like Patterson and Hudson, that's when things get a little tricky. I mean I can't exactly use archetypes that have any Synchro or Xyz Monsters connected with them, so that's when I have to get a little creative.

I knew right away that Patterson would be using an Insect deck, and as I thought more and more about how his deck would work, I came up with the concept that every card in Patterson's deck was a trap of some kind, even the monster cards. That was how some of the classic Insect monsters like Man-Eater Bug worked. Anyway, Trap Weaver and the two Trap cards that Patterson used in this first installment of the duel are of course cards I made up. As for Axel's deck, I also fabricated the Volcanic Trooper and Volcanic Artillery cards that he used. Because as my friend, DragonKnight15 pointed out in an earlier review of this story, Volcanic monsters don't nearly have enough support.

Well, I'm afraid I probably won't have the next chapter of this story up until sometime next week. I can't say just when yet, since I haven't seen my work schedule for next week. Plus I've been under the weather lately thanks to my draining sinuses. Hopefully the wait won't be too long though. So until then, please review and let me know what you think.


	7. Flames of War

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh! GX.

* * *

Chapter 6: Flames of War

"I'll go ahead and end my turn there," Patterson announced. "Go ahead and make your move, not that it'll do any good. I've got you so cornered that you're as powerless as your friends in the net over there."

Axel drew his next card. "First I activate Pot of Greed and draw two more cards from my deck. Then I activate the effect of Blaze Accelerator and discard Volcanic Scattershot to destroy Trap Weaver!"

Appearing on Axel's side of the battlefield was a very small red serpent-like creature with three heads. Each head had a pair of small glowing green eyes. The creature's body was shrouded in an aura of flames. Scattershot flew into the ammunition chamber of the Blaze Accelerator cannon and was launched across the field, striking Trap Weaver in the face. In moments the spider was burned to a pile of ashes and faded to nothing.

"Big deal. I use the effect of Ambush Reinforcements to set two more Insect monsters from my deck onto the field," Patterson announced.

"Except now the effect of Volcanic Scattershot kicks in!" Axel announced. "By sending two more copies of Scattershot from the deck to the Graveyard, I can destroy all monsters my opponent controls! Not only that, when all three copies of Scattershot are sent to the Graveyard, my opponent takes 500 points of damage for each one!"

Two more Scattershot monsters came down from above and struck Patterson's side of the battlefield, turning it into a sea of flames. In a few moments the flames finally subsided, and as they did a multicolored spider web appeared in front of Patterson and vanished just as quickly. As the smoke cleared, Axel saw that Patterson's life points were untouched.

"Nice job getting rid of my monsters, but I used the effect of Safety Web to banish Swarm of Locusts from the Graveyard and negate the damage," Patterson revealed.

"At least Axel was able to get rid of Patterson's wall of monsters," Jaden remarked.

"Yeah, but it won't mean a thing if Axel can't do any damage to his life points," Chazz pointed out.

"I summon Volcanic Bomber Phoenix in Attack Mode!" Axel announced.

Materializing on Axel's side of the field was a large yellow-white creature resembling a pterodactyl. It had glowing red eyes and a beak-like snout similar to a hawk's. A row of red flames burned down the length of the creature's back, and on its rear end were three long red fire plumes that resembled tail feathers.

"I activate one of my Traps, Trap Hole!" Patterson announced. "Your monster is now destroyed!"

The spot of ground that Bomber Phoenix landed on suddenly collapsed, revealing a large circular pit that had been dug deep into the ground.

"Like I told you before, traitor, I have you right where I want you," Patterson declared.

"I activate the effect of Volcanic Bomber Phoenix!" Axel announced. "Once per turn, when Bomber Phoenix has been destroyed by an opponent's card effect, I can summon it back to the field!"

Suddenly a pillar of red flames shot up from the pit that had been dug into the earth and shot high into the sky. In seconds the flames subsided and Bomber Phoenix emerged with a shriek. Clutched in its talons was a large ball of crimson flames.

"When Bomber Phoenix has been summoned using its own effect, he deals 900 points of damage to the opponent!" Axel announced. "And since the effect of your Safety Web can only be activated once per turn, there's no way you can protect yourself from this damage!"

Bomber Phoenix flew over Patterson's position and dropped its flaming payload. All Patterson could do was look up and watch as the fireball came toward him. Upon striking its target, the fireball enveloped Patterson in a pillar of flames as his life points dropped to 3100. When the flamed died down, a look of utter fury was on the mercenary's face.

"Awesome!" Jaden cheered. "Axel finally took off some of his life points!"

"I bet Axel was hoping that Patterson would do something to destroy Bomber Phoenix so that he could use its effect," Alexis assumed.

"You damn punk!" Patterson cursed. "I activate my other Trap, Torrential Tribute! Since you summoned that damn Phoenix of yours back to the field, I use Torrential Tribute to destroy all monsters on the field!"

Just as Bomber Phoenix flew back over to Axel's side of the field, a pillar of water shot up out of the pit that the bird creature had fallen into earlier and was totally enveloped. Eventually the geyser subsided, and when it did, there was no trace of Bomber Phoenix left.

"To think that a cocky little traitor like you actually managed to do damage to my life points," Patterson spoke. "This time you're dead for sure!"

"Don't count on it," Axel told him. "And even if you do somehow manage to kill me, Jaden or one of the others will take you down in my place."

At this, Patterson's mouth formed into a sinister grin. "Don't be too sure. Why don't you look up into the trees where the net is being suspended from?"

Axel looked up at the spot where Patterson was pointing, and saw that one of the ropes that the net was being suspended from was connected to a box-like device with a red blinking light on the front. Below the light were two black rectangular screens, each one showing a set of numbers in green. One of the numbers matched Axel's current life point total, while the other one matched Patterson's.

"One of two things will happen when this duel ends," Patterson continued. "If you manage to win, and there's no way in hell that'll happen, that box will cause the net to release and set your friends free. If I win though, the box will send a powerful electrical current through the metal mesh that the net is made from and fry them all to a crisp."

Axel's eyes widened in shock and horror. "So… it's not just my life on the line here."

"You got it," Patterson confirmed. "If you lose, your friends lose too. And I'll have the pleasure of delivering your friend Jaden's corpse to Commander Viper. Now then, you finished with your move?"

"Dammit!" Chazz cursed. "I guess we should've expected something like this from a trap set by one of Viper's goons."

Axel scowled. "I set one card on the field and end my turn."

Patterson drew his next card. "I think it's time I stopped toying with you and went on the offensive. I activate the Spell card, Polymerization! With this card, I fuse a third Trap Weaver and two more Nobleman-Eater Bugs in my hand to summon a new monster in Defense Mode! I call forth Sheliabra, Spider Queen of the Primeval Forest!"

Another Trap Weaver appeared on Patterson's side of the field along with two other Nobleman-Eater Bugs. The three arthropods jumped into a small transparent vortex that had appeared in the sky above. Dropping down out of the vortex a few moments later was a gigantic black spider with eight long dark-purple legs. On its face was a set of six round red eyes that glowed with a demonic fury, and a pair of sharp purple mandibles that dripped with acid. On the back of the spider's abdomen was a white design in the form of a screaming skull.

"That thing looks tough," Jaden remarked as he looked at the spider, with some of the color having drained from his face.

"Sheilabra gains 500 DEF for each face-up Spell and Trap card on the field," Patterson announced. "Since there are three out right now, her DEF goes up from 3500 to 5000. Furthermore, Sheilabra can attack directly while she's in Defense Mode at the cost of cutting the damage in half!"

"Since Sheilabra only has 2200 ATK, half of that damage won't be much," Axel remarked.

"True, but Sheilabra has one other effect that makes up for that," Patterson continued. "Once per turn, Sheilabra lets me activate a Trap card straight from my hand! I attack you directly with Sheilabra and use her effect to activate the Trap card, Spider Queen's Rage! When a level five or higher Inset monster attacks my opponent directly, Spider Queen's Rage raises her ATK by 1000 during that battle!"

Sheilabra spewed out a stream of green acidic fluid across the field at Axel. Axel shielded himself with his arms, but his life points still took a heavy drop to 1200.

"I've got you on your last legs now," Patterson declared. "I activate my Trap, Accelerator Destruct System! When I've taken damage from an attack while I have Blaze Accelerator on the field, Accelerator Destruct System lets me destroy all Spell and Trap cards on the field!"

Suddenly the Blaze Accelerator cannon exploded and sent out a shockwave of flames outward across the entire battlefield. The blast struck both of Patterson's Trap cards and caused them to burn to ash.

"Now Sheilabra's DEF is back to 3500," Axel continued. "Not only that though, Accelerator Destruct System lets me summon any number of level four or lower Volcanic monsters from my Graveyard! I bring back Volcanic Shell, Volcanic Phoenix, and both copies of Volcanic Slicer!"

Four pillars of flame shot up from the ground on Axel's side of the field. The flames quickly died away to reveal the four reptilian monsters that Axel had summoned.

"Big deal," Patterson responded. "Nothing you summon now can make a difference. You're on your last legs and you know it. I'll just end my turn here."

"I get the feeling that if Axel doesn't end this duel right here, we could all be finished," Chazz remarked.

Axel closed his eyes as he calmly drew his next card. "I banish all three copies of Volcanic Scattershot from my Graveyard to special summon The Blazing Mars!"

Three balls of flame suddenly came down from above and collided into one another to form a large fiery star behind Axel. In a few seconds the flames died away to reveal a large floating reptilian head with rocky tan skin, two red eyes, and a large mouth filled with sharp teeth. Inside this mouth was a blazing fireball that was like a miniature sun. A pair of rocky red horns grew from the back of the floating head, and a similar second pair of horns grew from the sides of the creature's jaw and curved forward. Atop this floating head was the top half of a humanoid entity that appeared to have deep red skin. Much of its torso was covered in black and silver armor, with an oval-shaped red gem decorating the front of its chest. A silver mask and helmet with red shade's totally covered the humanoid part of the creature's head.

"No way!" a stunned Jaden spoke. "Isn't that…?"

"A Legendary Planet!" Alexis identified, answering Jaden's question. "I never expected Axel to have one though."

"So what? You may have summoned one of those Legendary Planet monsters I've heard about, but even its ATK isn't enough to overcome Sheilabra's DEF," Patterson pointed out.

"I activate Mars's effect!" Axel announced. "By sending all other monsters I control to the Graveyard, Mars can inflict 500 points of damage to my opponent for each one!"

"So I take 2000 points of damage, huh?" Patterson responded. "That's not enough to finish me off."

"Except I also activate the second effect of Accelerator Destruct System from the Graveyard!" Axel announced. "By banishing Accelerator Destruct System from the Graveyard, the damage inflicted by a Pyro monster like Mars is doubled!"

"What!" Patterson exclaimed.

"This ends now!" Axel declared. "Mars Sanction!"

Axel's other four monsters were suddenly pulled into the star burning inside the mouth of Mars's dragonhead body. Mars then gave off a feint red aura, and suddenly the ground under Patterson's feet erupted into a pillar of flames that radiated outward and consumed Sheilabra. Patterson's life points dropped to zero, and in that moment the device attached to the net holding Jaden and the others beeped. The net opened up and dropped the three captives to the ground. Meanwhile, Mars vanished from the field and the flames surrounding Patterson died away only to reveal a horrible sight.

A white light was burning from Patterson's eyes and mouth. Jaden and the others could only watch as the light consumed Patterson entirely just as what happened with Hudson earlier. In a matter of seconds, the only thing left of Patterson was a scorch mark on the ground.

"Guess that does it for another of Viper's men," Axel observed as Jaden walked up. "You guys okay?"

"Yeah," Jaden answered. "Hey Axel, where the heck did you get The Blazing Mars from?"

"Oh. Maximillion Pegasus gave it to me after I did this one job for him not too long ago," Axel answered. "He called the kind of bonus to my payment. Why do you ask?"

"Lex and I were just surprised is all," Jaden replied. "Me especially. It seems like I've been running into a lot of Legendary Planet users lately."

Before the conversation could get further, Chazz suddenly stormed over to Jaden and punched him in the face. The force of the impact was enough to knock him onto his butt.

"Chazz! What was that for?" a stunned Jaden asked.

"You son of a bitch!" Chazz cursed. "How the hell can you be so damn casual about everything when we're fighting for our lives here?"

"Chazz, I know what's at steak here just as well as you do," Jaden assured him as he got back to his feet.

"Chazz, that's enough!" Alexis cut in as she stormed over. "Blaming Jaden for everything that's happened isn't going to solve anything?"

"Dammit Alexis, how can you keep defending him?" Chazz asked.

"Well for one thing, I'm in love with him!" Alexis answered. "And I get that you don't like that, but it's something you're just going to have to accept!"

"But Jaden causes nothing but trouble wherever he goes!" Chazz argued. "You could see that if you weren't such an idiotic slut!"

Alexis suddenly slapped Chazz in the face. The sound of her plan striking his cheek echoed through the forest. Jaden and Axel could only stand there in total shock, though neither of them were as shocked as Chazz.

After a moment, Chazz realized what he had just said. "Alexis, I… I…"

"It'd probably be better if you just kept your mouth shut for a while," Alexis told him.

Chazz said nothing and walked away after a few moments. He stepped away to the edge of the clearing to be alone.

"We should probably set up camp here for the night," Axel suggested. "We've still got a lot of ground to cover and it's starting to get dark. It's best if we wait until morning to keep going."

"Yeah. Okay," Jaden agreed.

"I'll go get some firewood and see if I can scrounge up something for dinner," Axel responded before walking off into the woods.

Alexis let out a heavy sigh and put a hand on her face. "I did not make things with Chazz at all better just now, did I?"

"Don't beat yourself up over it, Lexi," Yubel spoke as she appeared. "He had it coming, if you ask me."

"Maybe we all just need a bit to cool down," Jaden suggested. "Hopefully Chazz will be in a better mood by the time Axel gets back."

* * *

Viper had been watching the whole scene with Jaden and the others from his command center since the start of Axel and Patterson's duel, and at that moment he was watching with a mixture of shock and rage. He couldn't believe that he had lost Patterson as well. What really angered Viper though was the fact that Lucia, the one responsible for killing Patterson, was standing right next to him and he couldn't do a thing to make her pay for it.

"These soldiers are truly turning out to be a disappointment, Viper," Lucia spoke as she continued looking at the screen with her arms crossed. "If they aren't even strong enough to eliminate the Supreme King's followers, then they're totally useless."

"I… apologize for Patterson's failure," Viper responded. It was taking everything he had to keep his rage in check. "Of course in his defense, none of us was expecting Axel Brodie to have one of the Legendary Planet monsters in his deck."

"Yes. I do sense a troubling power emanating from those Planet cards," Lucia admitted. "One that could somehow prove to be quite problematic to my cause in the future. Regardless, I'm more doubtful the ability of these assassins you've hired than before. In fact I'm starting to think that this whole endeavor of yours is pointless."

"Please give me a little more time, Lucia," Viper requested. "Lamia will make up for the failures of Hudson and Patterson. You shall see."

"Well… I will admit that your operation hasn't been a total waste," Lucia responded. "I'm seeing some great promise in this Chazz Princeton."

"Princeton? What do you mean?" Viper asked.

"Oh, nothing you need concern yourself with," Lucia answered. "Just go on with your little plan like I'm not even here."

* * *

Lamia waited patiently at her post waiting for word on the progress of Jaden and the others. It surprised her that it was taking so long for her to hear some kind of word on the situation. Before Lamia had been certain that it wouldn't take long for Jaden and his friends to be eliminated, not from what she knew of Patterson and Hudson's abilities. But now with night falling, she was no longer nearly as sure.

 _"Lamia, do you read me?"_ Viper's voice spoke over the communication device in her ear.

"Loud and clear sir," Lamia responded. "What's the situation?"

 _"Both Hudson and Patterson have been… eliminated,"_ Viper reported. _"I'm afraid it's all up to you now. I'm sending you Jaden Yuki's current coordinates."_

"Understood. I will not fail you," Lamia responded.

 _"One other thing. Jaden Yuki is to be eliminated last,"_ Viper ordered.

"As you wish," Lamia replied. "Sir, our intelligence reported that Jaden Yuki and Alexis Rhodes are now involved romantically, correct?"

" _You're going to eliminate her?"_ Viper responded.

"That's correct," Lamia confirmed. "You did say that you wanted Jaden Yuki to suffer before killing him. What better way to do that than by killing the one he loves most?"

 _"Very well then,"_ Viper replied. _"I'll let you proceed how you think best."_

"I will not let you down, commander," Lamia assured him. "Jaden Yuki will experience a total hell before we finally put him out of his misery."

* * *

 **Author's Note:** At least 45% of the reason why I did this story was to establish Axel as the user of The Blazing Mars in this cannon I've developed. The thing about The Blazing Mars is that it can fit into a Volcanic deck like a glove, so in a way it kind of sucks that the creator of the GX manga decided to have Axel use that military machine deck instead.

Please review and let me know what you think.


	8. Lamia's Bite

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh! GX.

* * *

Chapter 7: Lamia's Bite

Night had finally fallen upon the jungle, and Axel had used his wilderness survival skills to set up camp for him and the others. The four of them sat around a campfire eating the meager dinner that Axel had scrounged up for them all. Axel had been unable to find any wild animals that would've been a suitable meal, but he had at least been able to find some edible plants. It wasn't the tastiest meal that Jaden and the others had ever had, but it was enough to sustain them for the night and the morning. For the night they would try to get as much rest as possible and set back out for Viper's base first thing in the morning.

The four ate mostly in silence, mainly because of the awkward situation between Jaden, Alexis and Chazz. Chazz had hardly said a word to the other two since they had fallen into Patterson's net trap earlier in the day. Axel meanwhile was doing his best to stay out of the whole situation, since it really wasn't his business anyway. Though the duelist soldier did worry that the situation with Chazz might make their current situation even more dangerous than it already was, since a large part of their survival might depend a lot on the four of them working together. Viper had truly picked the absolute worst time to strike.

After finishing his meal, Jaden suddenly got to his feet and stretched. "Those mushrooms and berries were actually pretty filling. Well, I think I'm gonna go and stretch my legs for a bit."

"Try not to go too far from the camp," Axel told him.

"Relax. I'm just gonna go for a short walk," Jaden assured him. "I'll be back in a bit."

With that, Jaden disappeared into the surrounding trees.

A few moments after Jaden left, Alexis rose to her feet as well. "I think I'll go join him. We'll be back soon."

After almost a minute of walking, Alexis found Jaden standing in the middle of another small clearing looking up at the sky. There was a hole in the jungle canopy above that gave him a clear view of the moon, which was almost totally full.

"Hey there," Alexis spoke, getting Jaden's attention. "Everything okay?"

"Yeah. I just needed some space to clear my head," Jaden answered. "I've had a lot on my mind."

"About Viper?" Alexis asked as she came closer.

"About him, sure. But mostly about Chazz," Jaden answered. "I just don't know how to make things right with him."

"He probably just needs time to accept our relationship," Alexis told him.

"I don't know. I think it might be a little more than that," Jaden responded. "I mean he thinks I'm some sort of menace that causes trouble wherever he goes. You know… he's not totally wrong."

"But none of that is your fault," Alexis pointed out.

"No… no, it's not," Jaden agreed. "Even so, that doesn't change the fact that Chazz now seems to hate my guts because of it, and because of the fact that we're together now."

"Yeah. And I probably didn't help things by slapping him before," Alexis admitted. "Look, maybe we should just save this thing with Chazz for after we get out of this. Right now, I think you and I could use this time to relieve a little stress."

Jaden blinked in surprise. "Um… Lex, do you mean what I think you mean?"

"What do you think?" Alexis responded with a smirk as she took off the white vest she was wearing and tossed it away. "Oh, and Yubel? I want you in on this too. You probably need this just as much as Jaden and I do."

Yubel appeared next to Jaden with a deep blush on her face. "Uh… sure. Why not?"

* * *

Chazz had left camp to go find Alexis and Jaden a few minutes after they had left. He had decided that he needed to apologize for what he had said to her earlier right before they had fallen into Patterson's trap. Chazz knew that even though Jaden was likely to be there as well, this was an apology that couldn't wait, especially if he wanted to somehow still have a future with Alexis eventually. Despite everything, Chazz felt certain that Alexis would see the light at some point and realize how dangerous Jaden truly is. For now though, he needed to patch things up Alexis so they could at least still be friends.

Eventually Chazz reached the edge of the clearing that Jaden and Alexis had found, and what he saw caused him to freeze in his tracks. Alexis was on the ground with Jaden on top of her. The two of them were making out like rabbits, and though they were still mostly clothed, Chazz could tell where things were leading. As Chazz watched the display of passion with a look of horror, he suddenly noticed that Jaden's eyes had changed from their usual brown to the orange and teal eyes of Yubel. Upon seeing that, Chazz found that he could bear to watch no more and ran back into the forest the way he came.

As Chazz made his way back to the camp, he tried with all his might to push what he had just seen out of his mind, but he couldn't. It was bad enough to almost catch Alexis and Jaden in the act of getting it on, but to know that Yubel was somehow involved in the act added an entirely new and sickening level to the whole affair. Chazz ended up recalling what Yubel had said to him earlier about her being a part of Alexis and wondered what she meant by that. Just what had happened between Jaden and Alexis at Duel Academy America? What had Yubel and Jaden done to Alexis while the two of them were there?

The whole time Chazz was running back towards the camp, he was unaware that he was being watched. Lucia was sitting on the branch of one of the trees looking down upon him with great interest.

* * *

It was at least half an hour after dawn as Axel woke up. As he got to his feet, he saw that Chazz was back at the camp, but there was no sign of Jaden or Alexis. Only a few seconds after Axel got up, Chazz began to rise as well.

"Hey! What happened to Rhodes and Jaden?" Axel asked as Chazz rose to his feet.

"I have a pretty good idea where they still are," Chazz darkly answered.

Before Axel could ask Chazz what he meant by that, Alexis and Jaden suddenly emerged from the brush.

"Where the hell were you two?" Axel asked. "Last night you said you'd only be gone for just a few minutes!"

"Something sort of came up," Jaden answered with a slight blush as he rubbed the back of his head.

Axel blinked in surprise as he realized what Jaden meant. "Oh seriously! You guys picked a time like this for something like that?"

Just as the couple was about to respond, a knife suddenly flew from the surrounding brush and came towards Alexis's head. The blade missed Alexis by inches and struck the trunk of the tree behind her. Everyone's eyes immediately went to the spot where the knife had come from. A few seconds later, Lamia emerged from the brush.

"Alexis Rhodes!" Lamia spoke. "I've come to eliminate you!"

"You! You're the spy who infiltrated that Kaiba Corp lab!" Jaden recalled. "The one who set up that trap with Blair and the simulator project! Just who are you?"

"My real name would mean nothing to you," the assassin told them. "I go by the name, Lamia! And right now I have only one mission, the elimination of Alexis Rhodes!"

"If you want Alexis, you'll have to go though me first!" Jaden told her.

"Wait Jaden," Alexis told him as she held an arm in front of him. "I'll take her on since I'm the one she seems to be after. Besides, I've stood on the sidelines for long enough during this whole thing."

"But Lex…" Jaden responded.

"Just let her do this, Jaden," Yubel told him as she appeared at his side. "Nothing either of us can say can stop her. Besides, I think she can handle herself pretty well against this girl."

"Let me ask you one thing, Lamia," Alexis spoke. "Why come after me specifically?"

"Because your death would cause Jaden Yuki great pain, and Commander Viper wants Jaden to suffer as much as possible before his death," Lamia answered. "Now let's begin!"

With that, Alexis and Lamia activated their duel disks and drew their opening hands.

"I shall go first!" Lamia declared as she drew her first card. "I summon Jade Cobra in Attack Mode and end my turn!"

Materializing on Lamia's side of the field was a human-size cobra covered in green scales. It had eyes like sapphires and a black design on the front of its hood resembling a monstrous grinning face.

"She summoned a Normal Monster in Attack Mode without any kind of defense to back it up?" Axel observed.

"That monster may have 1900 ATK, but Alexis can easily summon a monster that can beat it," Chazz noted. "I don't like this one bit."

Alexis drew her first card. "I activate Polymerization and fuse Blade Skater and Etoile Cyber in my hand to summon Cyber Blader!"

Appearing on Alexis's side of the field was a bald woman covered totally in a purple and lavender bodysuit, with a short light-blue skirt that was open in the front, and a pair of ice skates on her feet. An earring was on her right ear, and attached to her forearms were two large blades. Next to her was a woman wearing a mostly blue bodysuit that seemed to blend together with her blue skin and a pair of red boots with yellow trim that went up to her knees. She had a red strap on over her right eye, along with white ribbons wrapped around her wrists and a short white skirt that was open in the front. The two women jumped into a small transparent vortex that had appeared in the air above the battlefield.

Dropping down out of the vortex a few moments later was a woman with very long straight dark-blue hair and light-blue skin. She had very long pointed ears and a red visor over her eyes. Much of her body was covered in a purple and red skin-tight bodysuit with a flame motif. Her arms were mostly bare, except for a pair of purple gloves that went up past her wrists. Two red blades were attached to the woman's shoulders, and on her feet was a pair of ice skates.

"Cyber Blader, attack Jade Cobra!" Alexis commanded. "Glissade Slash!"

Cyber Blader began to skate across the battlefield towards Lamia's monster as though she were on an ice rink. Just as the figure skating warrior came in striking range though, Jade Cobra opened its jaws and sprayed her in the chest with a stream of green liquid. Upon being hit, Cyber Blader screamed and stopped dead in her tracks. Alexis's life points suddenly dropped to 3700.

"What just happened?" Alexis asked.

"What happened was the effect of Primeval Jungle that benefits Reptile monsters," Lamia explained. "When a Reptile does battle while Primeval Jungle was in play, the opposing monster loses 500 ATK during the battle."

"I knew it!" Chazz exclaimed. "Lamia was setting her up this whole time!"

"Cyber Blader may have lost that battle, but she can't be destroyed in battle thanks to her effect!" Alexis announced.

"Very true, but that Fusion of yours can still be easily eliminated," Lamia declared. "Now then, are you finished?"

Alexis scowled. "I set two cards on the field and end my turn!"

Suddenly Yubel appeared next to Alexis. "You should be very careful with this duel. Lamia doesn't strike me as a duelist who should be taken lightly."

"What're you doing?" Alexis quietly asked.

"Don't mind me. I'm just here to provide some backup in case you need it," Yubel told her. "I know that you can handle yourself pretty well, but in a duel like this it's better safe than sorry. After all, Jaden and I would not be happy if you died."

Lamia meanwhile had already drawn her next card. "I activate the Spell card, Toxic Spray! When I have a Reptile on the field, Toxic Spray lets me destroy one face-up monster my opponent controls! And of course my target is Cyber Blader!"

Jade Cobra opened its mouth again and sprayed a ball of green goo across the battlefield at Cyber Blader. The projectile struck the figure skater in the chest, and Alexis and the others could only watch in horror as the liquid dissolved her to nothing.

"I activate my Trap, Cyber Encore!" Alexis announced. "When a Cyber Fusion Monster I control is destroyed by an opponent's card effect, I can summon one of the materials used to summon it from the Graveyard in Attack Mode! I bring back Blade Skater!"

On cue, Blade Skater reappeared on the field in Cyber Blader's place.

"I summon Urubonus, the Avatar of Malice in Attack Mode!" Lamia announced.

Materializing next to Jade Cobra was a gigantic snake with yellow eyes and a body covered in glittering black scales. It had a light-grey underside, and a pair of large curved blue blades on the tip of its tail like pincers. The top of the serpent's head was covered in a thick hide of blue scales like armor, and in the center of its forehead was a red gemstone. A pair of long grey spikes grew from the back of its head, while two grey fin-like blades grew from the sides of its jaw.

"A level five monster," Axel observed. "And it has 2000 ATK. Blade Skater doesn't stand a chance."

"I attack Blade Skater with Jade Cobra!" Lamia announced. "Jungle Venom!"

"I activate my Trap, Doble Passe!" Alexis announced. "This card turns Jade Cobra's attack into a direct attack on my life points!"

The toxic spray from Jade Cobra's mouth went right past Blade Skater and struck Alexis in the chest. The blonde's life points took a heavy drop to 1800.

"And now the effect of Doble Passe causes Blade Skater to attack you directly!" Alexis announced.

Blade Skater dashed across the field and twirled in front of Lamia, doing a graceful roundhouse kick that slashed the assassin across the chest with the blade of her skate. As a result of the attack, Lamia's life points dropped to 2600.

"Lamia, I want to know one thing," Alexis spoke as Lamia recovered from the attack. "Why are you helping someone like Viper?"

"Because everything I am, I owe to Commander Viper," Lamia answered. "Before him, I was an orphan living on the streets, seen by the people in my village as only an animal no better than a stray cat. But the commander took me in and trained me as a soldier. He gave my life purpose, and because of that I owe him a debt that can never be repaid."

"Looks like Viper chose his most loyal minions to come after us this time," Yubel observed. "Each opponent we've gone up against would easily lay down their lives for him, and so far two of them have."

"But my past doesn't matter here!" Lamia continued. "Using Doble Passe to inflict heavy damage to me was a bold move, but it has also served to dig your grave even deeper! I attack Blade Skater with Urubonus! And when Urubonus attacks a monster, its prey loses 300 ATK during the battle! Combine that with the ATK your monster will lose thanks to Primeval Jungle, and that means you'll be taking a substantial amount of damage!"

Urubonus opened its jaws and sprayed Blade Skater with a liquid from its fangs. With its prey weakened, the giant serpent chomped down on the skating warrior and devoured her in one gulp. The attack resulted in Alexis's life points dropping to a mere 400.

"This is not going well at all," a worried Jaden declared. "If this keeps up, Alexis won't last much longer! And if she loses, then… then…"

Before Jaden could finish his thought, Chazz grabbed him by the shirt. "Dammit Jaden! It's all because of you that Alexis is in this mess to begin with! And if she dies in this duel, know that I will never ever forgive you!"

* * *

 **Author's Note:** For those of you reading who were expecting Lamia to be using a Plant deck, I'm sorry to have disappointed you. It was always my plan for her to be using a snake deck though, what with her basically being Viper's apprentice. Jade Cobra is a monster that I made up just for this story. I never thought I'd have to make up a normal monster, but there were no reptiles with 1900 ATK that I knew of or could remember off the top of my head. Urubonus meanwhile is a monster that I borrowed from the GX manga.

Please review and let me know what you think.


	9. The King's Queen

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh! GX.

* * *

Chapter 8: The King's Queen

"I set one card on the field and end my turn!" Lamia announced. "Now, let's see if you can pull yourself out of the grave you've dug for yourself."

"You sure seem to be enjoying yourself," Alexis remarked as she drew her next card.

"Commander Viper trained me not just as a soldier, but as a duelist as well," Lamia responded. "Because of that, it wouldn't be satisfying for me to eliminate you unless I crush you while fighting at your hardest."

"Well this duel won't end the way you think it will," Alexis declared. "First I activate Card of Sanctity, allowing us both to draw until we have six cards! Then I summon Cyber Petit Angel in Attack Mode!"

Materializing on Alexis's side of the field was a small pink robot with a spherical body. It had stubby arms and legs, and a face with two round hazel eyes and a large mouth. On the sides of its body were two small white-feathered wings, and above its top was a halo made of a golden-white light.

"When Cyber Petit Angel is summoned to the field, I can add Machine Angel Ritual from my deck to my hand!" Alexis announced. "Now I sacrifice Petit Cyber Angel to special summon Cyber Tutubon!"

Cyber Petit Angel shattered into particles of white as a twister of wind surrounded it. In moments the twister subsided to reveal a young woman with short straight teal hair clad in a skintight green, light-blue and red bodysuit. She had a yellow visor on over her eyes, and attached to the top of her head were two large red spherical bells, each with a green thorn-covered vine wrapped around it. A pair of small white-feathered wings was attached to her back, and around her neck was a choker in the form of a green vine with a red rose on the front. Around her waist was an elaborate ruffled pink tutu that was open in the front.

"Now I activate the Spell card, Machine Angel Ritual!" Alexis announced.

Appearing to tower behind Alexis was a large ornate caldron of flames. Its base was made of several grey metal pipes.

"I sacrifice Cyber Tutubon and Cyber Tutu from my hand to summon Cyber Angel Benten!" Alexis announced.

Materializing above the flaming cauldron was a girl with short straight bubblegum-pink hair clad in a white and burgundy bodysuit with a pink tutu and wearing a blue visor over her eyes. Cyber Tutubon flipped through the air and dove into the caldron of flames along with Cyber Tutu. Soon after, a ball of flames shot out from the caldron and struck the field in front of Alexis. In moments the fireball took the form of a woman with long black hair wearing a sleeveless white and red tight-fitting bodysuit and an ornate gold mask over the top half of her face. In her hands she carried a large red fan connected by a chain to a long wooden handle.

"Since Tutubon was used for a Ritual Summon, I can use her effect to return Machine Angel Ritual to my hand!" Alexis announced. "Next I equip Benten with Ritual Weapon, increasing her ATK from 1800 to 3300!"

Appearing on Benten's left arm was a golden armored gauntlet with a small round purple shield on the back baring a strange eye-like symbol. Two curved golden blades were attached to the sides of the shield, and the tips of the blades projected two thin beams of a blue energy that met with the end of an arrow made of blue light loaded beneath the shield, revealing the gauntlet to be a sort of crossbow.

"Thanks to the boost from Ritual Weapon, the ATK Benten loses from attacking even Urubonus won't make that much of a difference," Axel observed. "She drew just what she needed to turn this around."

"Benten, attack Urubonus!" Alexis commanded. "Angelic Arrow!"

Urubonus quickly responded by spraying Benten with venom from his fangs. Benten quickly recovered though and fired the arrow of light loaded into her gauntlet. The arrow entered through the snake's open mouth and shot a hole right through the back of its head. Urubonus fell to the ground dead before shattering into particles of light. Meanwhile, Lamia's life points dropped to 2100.

"And now when Benten destroys a monster in battle, she deals damage equal to the destroyed monster's DEF!" Alexis announced.

Benten twirled around before flinging her fan across the field at Lamia. Lamia raised her arms to shield herself, but the moment the fan struck, her life points took another drop to 1300.

"This changes nothing!" Lamia declared. "I activate the Trap, Serpent God's Wrath! By discarding every single Reptile monster from my hand when one of my Reptiles is destroyed in battle, Serpent God's Wrath destroys all monsters on the field! I discard Black Mamba and two more Jade Cobras!"

The sky darkened and suddenly several green fireballs rained down from above. Both Benten and Jaden Cobra were hit and vaporized in an instant. As soon as both monsters were destroyed, the sky returned to normal.

"If this is the limit of your strength, then you stand no chance against me!" Lamia declared.

"Damn! She's a much more aggressive player than we thought," Yubel observed as she reappeared next to Alexis.

"No kidding," Alexis quietly agreed. "The more I damage her, the harder she comes at me."

"The effect of Serpent God's Wrath also allows me to add a level eight or lower Reptile monster to my hand!" Lamia announced. "You've proven to be a major disappointment, Alexis Rhodes. Hopefully I'll have a much more satisfying duel from Jaden Yuki when he tries to kill me in order to avenge your death."

"Dammit!" Chazz cursed. "This is the worst thing that could've happened. At this point there's no way Alexis can turn this around."

"Chazz, you really need to have more faith in Alexis," Jaden told him. "I know things look bad, but I'm totally sure that she can still win."

"You just shut up!" Chazz shot back. "None of this would be happening right now if it wasn't for you!"

"I set one card on the field and end my turn!" Alexis announced. "It's your move, Lamia."

"Indeed. And with this move, you shall be finished!" Lamia declared as she drew her next card. "I play Monster Reborn and summon Jade Cobra back to the field!"

On cue, the giant green cobra reappeared on Lamia's side of the battlefield.

"And now… in the name of Commander Viper, I will finish you in the most devastating way possible," Lamia spoke. "I banish Jade Cobra and all Reptile monsters in my Graveyard to summon the monster I added to my hand with Serpent God's Wrath! Come forth, Evil Dragon Ananta!"

Jade Cobra shattered into particles of light, and twister of black wind suddenly appeared behind Lamia. After a few moments, the twister subsided to reveal a massive light-brown and purple snake with five heads. The central head had a large golden horn growing from the center of it forehead and a purple fin growing from the back of its head like a crown, while the other four heads had pieces of black armor covering their foreheads. Covering the serpent creature's chest was a piece of black armor styled to look like the face of a snake with red eyes.

"Ananta gains 600 ATK and DEF points for each monster that was banished in order to summon it," Lamia announced. "Because five of my serpents were removed from play to bring it to the field, Ananta's ATK and DEF are now 3000!"

Alexis closed her eyes. "I really didn't give it my best in this duel, did I?"

"What're you talking about? You've done great so far," Yubel assured her. "You're not going to give up, are you? Because Jaden and I would not be okay with that."

"Of course I'm not giving up," Alexis answered. "I'm just mad at myself for letting her get the better of me."

"Then let's turn it around," Yubel told her.

"Yeah… let's do it!" Alexis responded, and her eyes snapped open to reveal that they were glowing in the orange and teal colors of Yubel's eyes.

"Whoa!" Axel exclaimed as he noticed Alexis's eyes. "What's going on here? I thought Jaden's eyes only did that."

Chazz's eyes widened with a mixture of shock and horror. "Jaden… what the hell did you and Yubel do to Alexis?"

"It's kind of a long story," Jaden responded.

"Ananta! Attack her directly and paint the ground with her blood!" Lamia commanded. "Thousand Serpent Fangs!"

"I activate my Trap, Machine Angel's Grace!" Alexis announced as Ananta's heads lunged towards her. "When an opponent's monster declares a direct attack on me, Machine Angel's Grace lets me discard Machine Angel Ritual to summon a Cyber Angel from my Graveyard and negate the attack! I summon Cyber Angel Benten back to the field!"

Just as Ananta was about to move in for the kill, a pillar of blue flames shot up from the ground in front of Alexis and blocked the hydra's path. In seconds the flames subsided to reveal Benten.

"In that case, I shall end my turn," Lamia announced. "But at the end of my turn, Ananta's effect lets me destroy one of my opponent's monsters! I use Ananta's effect to destroy Benten!"

Ananta's central head opened its jaws and sprayed Benten with a green liquid. Just as the spray was about to hit though, a barrier of blue-green light appeared in front of the dark-haired Cyber Angel and blocked the attack.

"What!" Lamia exclaimed. "Why didn't that work?"

"Sorry, but thanks to Machine Angel's Grace, Benten becomes unaffected by my opponent's card effects until the end of my opponent's next turn," Alexis explained.

"Now you're just starting to annoy me," Lamia spoke with a scowl. "You clearly can't win, so just give up already!"

"No way in hell!" Alexis and Yubel said together as they drew the next card from Alexis's deck. The card that Alexis pulled from her deck gave off a flash of black energy.

"What the hell was that?" Chazz asked. "Jaden… what have you turned Alexis into?"

"I activate the Spell card, Queen's Eyes!" Alexis announced. The illustration of the card Alexis played showed Yubel's eyes shining through a pitch-black fog. "This card lets me use a single Cyber Angel to summon a Cyber Queen Fusion Monster that uses her as material! I use Cyber Angel Benten to summon Cyber Queen Benten!"

Benten's eyes suddenly began to glow with the orange and teal colors of Yubel, and a second later she became enveloped in a pillar of crackling black energy that shot into the sky. A few moments later the energy faded to reveal Benten in a new form. Her long dark hair had become totally white, and her skin had turned purple. The sleeveless black bodysuit she had on had become black and brown. The gold mask that was covering the top half of her face was now silver and had become more skull-like, and had also gained a vertical yellow eye that covered her forehead. A pair of small curved yellow horns grew from the sides of Benten's head. The pole handle of her weapon had turned black, while the fan at the end of the chain had turned purple and was now decorated with a design resembling a demonic face.

"It looks like a fusion of Benten and Yubel," Chazz observed.

"That's exactly what it is," Jaden told him.

"I attack Ananta with Cyber Queen Benten!" Alexis announced.

"But that queen of yours only has 2300 ATK!" Lamia pointed out. "There's no way it can defeat Ananta!"

"In her current form, Benten can only be destroyed by other Fusion Monsters, and I don't take any damage from battles involving her," Alexis explained. "Furthermore, when Benten battles a monster with higher ATK, she destroys that monster and inflicts damage equal to the monster's ATK or DEF, depending on which is higher. Of course since Ananta's ATK and DEF are the same, you take 3000 points of damage either way."

"That's… impossible!" Lamia declared as her eyes widened in shock.

"Benten! Attack Ananta and end this!" Alexis commanded. "Queen's Turn!"

Benten twirled around three times before flinging her bladed fan at Ananta. In a split second, the fan cut through the hydra's midsection like butter. A few seconds later, the two halves of Ananata began to separate before exploding into particles of purple light. The resulting shockwave knocked Lamia to the ground and reduced her life points to zero. With the duel at an end, Benten vanished from the field. Alexis meanwhile let out a heavy sigh as her eyes returned to normal.

"Lex!" Jaden spoke as he quickly came up to her.

"I probably had you pretty worried for a while, didn't I?" Alexis realized.

"For a little bit, but I knew you could pull it off," Jaden responded.

"I helped out a bit too, you know," Yubel remarked as she reappeared next to Jaden.

"Yeah. Thanks for the help, Yubel," Alexis told her. "The truth is, I probably would've lost that duel if it wasn't for you."

"Think nothing of it," Yubel responded. "After all, you and I are a part of each other now."

Before the conversation could go on, the three suddenly heard a blood-curdling scream. Jaden and the others turned just in time to see Lamia being vaporized by a white light. In a few seconds, there was nothing left of her but a scorch mark on the ground.

Axel walked up to where Jaden and Alexis were standing. "Looks like Viper did away with another one of his assassins."

"I really don't think Viper did that," Alexis declared. "From what Lamia said about her past, Viper essentially raised her. He may be evil, but he wouldn't do something that heartless."

"You're right," Jaden agreed. "To Viper, Lamia was probably like the son he was trying to bring back from the dead using Yubel's help. I'm more certain than ever that there's someone or something else involved."

* * *

Viper sat looking at the screen showing Jaden and the others with his face totally blank. A single tear rolled down his cheek. Losing Hudson and Patterson was bad enough, but losing Lamia was even worse. To Viper, Lamia had been about as precious as his dead son, Pierce. Now he had lost both children, and what infuriated him most was that the one who had just taken his daughter's life, Lucia, was standing right next to him, and he couldn't to a single thing to make her pay for what she had done.

"A really pity about your apprentice, Viper," Lucia remarked. "She was actually quite good. On the bright side, I now at least know what Alexis Rhodes is capable of since becoming the Supreme King's queen. She will indeed be a very troubling adversary in the future."

Viper suddenly rose from his chair and turned to Lucia, but stopped himself at the last second from trying to strangle her. He realized that it would do no good.

"Oh dear. You're not going to have another little tantrum now, are you?" Lucia asked. "Because I am in the mood for that sort of nonsense."

"You are right Lucia… I am furious," Viper admitted. "But… I know who to take my rage out on."

* * *

"I guess the only thing to do now is to just keep on going to Viper's hideout," Jaden assumed. "Axel, how much longer do you think it'll take us to get there?"

"It should only take us a few more hours," Axel answered as he looked at the map. "Of course we don't know if Viper has any more assassins lying in wait for us."

Suddenly a beam of blue light projected from one of the trees. Jaden and the others watched as the end of the beam became a hologram of Viper.

 _"Jaden Yuki!"_ Viper practically shouted. _"I'm going to make you pay for everything that you've done! The blood of Lamia, Patterson and Hudson is all on your hands!"_

"Now that really isn't true, is it Viper?" Jaden calmly responded. "Whoever or whatever power you're working with is the one who really killed them. Just like what happened at the academy, you made a deal with the devil, and now the devil is stabbing you in the back. You have no one to blame for the deaths of Lamia and the others but yourself."

 _"No Jaden. All of this has been because of you!"_ Viper insisted. _"From the very moment our paths crossed I have known nothing but misfortune and despair! Your very existence is to blame for all of my suffering and everything that has resulted from it! And I will no longer rest until I have wiped you, Yubel and Alexis Rhodes from the face of the earth!"_

Alexis put a hand on Jaden's shoulder. "You can come after us if you want, but the three of us will take you down no matter what."

"That's right!" Jaden declared. "Viper, let's end this once and for all!"

 _"Then come to my base. I'll be waiting for you,"_ Viper responded. And with that, his hologram vanished.

"We had better get going," Axel told the others. "We may be close, but we still have a lot of ground to cover."

Suddenly Jaden noticed that someone was missing. "Wait a sec. Where's Chazz?"

Axel looked and noticed that Chazz was indeed missing from the campsite. "Dammit, he was here just a second ago! He must've decided to run off somewhere while we were all focused on Viper."

"Where the hell could he have gone?" Alexis wondered.

"I don't know, but it was pretty boneheaded of him to just wander off like that," Axel declared. "We should probably find him before he falls into one of Viper's trap or run into something else in this jungle that could get him killed."

* * *

Viper sat back down in his chair and turned his attention back to his screens. As he looked at the image of Jaden's group, he noticed that Chazz was now missing.

"Viper, tell me that you're able to track Chazz Princeton down," Lucia spoke.

"I am. The poison bands that Jaden and his friends are wearing also have tracking devices," Viper revealed. "And my cameras cover a wide area of the jungle. It should be no problem to locate him."

"Then do it," Lucia ordered in a rather stern tone. "And quickly."

Viper tapped a few keys on one of the control panels in front of him. In a few seconds, one of the screens showed Chazz running through the jungle. Another screen showed a map with a moving green dot representing Chazz's location.

"It looks like he's approaching the pond I found while surveying the area," Viper observed. "He won't get too far from the path, but it's still quite a detour. Jaden and his friends will likely try and retrieve him."

"That doesn't matter," Lucia responded. "The important thing is that Chazz is now totally alone. This will be the perfect opportunity for me to see what he's capable of."

"In case you haven't noticed, I'm all out of soldiers," Viper pointed out.

"Not to worry," Lucia told him. "An opponent for Chazz can be easily provided. You just leave everything to me."

* * *

 **Author's Note:** Obviously the cards Alexis used to end the duel were cards that I had made up for her. I think in this case to fully explain the concept behind these cards (and I'm sorry for not doing this sort of thing with my previous stories), I'm going to show you their full text right here.

 **Queen's Eyes**

Spell Card

Target 1 "Cyber Angel" monster you control; Fusion Summon 1 Fusion Monster from your Extra Deck that lists that monster on the field as Fusion Material. You can only activate 1 "Queen's Eyes" per turn.

 **Cyber Queen Benten**

DARK/Fairy/Fusion/Effect/8/ATK 2300/DEF 2000

"Cyber Angel Benten" + "Yubel"

Cannot be destroyed in battle with non-Fusion Monsters. You take no damage from battles involving this card. At the end of the Damage Step, if this face-up Attack Position card battles an opponent's monster with higher ATK: Inflict damage equal to the ATK or DEF of the opponent's monster (whichever is higher) to your opponent, also destroy that monster.

So when I was thinking about Alexis's duel with Lamia, I decided that I should have her win using some kind of card representing her connection to Yubel. Eventually I came up with the idea of having Alexis use a Spell card that could summon a Fusion using a single Cyber Angel as material, sort of like Mask Change. While trying to figure out the stats and effects for this new Cyber Angel Fusion though, it dawned on me that it should be a Fusion of the Cyber Angel in question and Yubel. So the Spell card ended up becoming like the real world version of The Eye of Timaeus.

Well, next up is Chazz's duel against a "unique" opponent, so stay tuned for next week's update. In the meantime, please review and let me know what you think.


	10. The Enemy Within

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh! GX.

* * *

Chapter 9: The Enemy Within

Chazz had been walking aimlessly through the jungle for an uncertain amount of time. He had no idea how long he had been walking or where he was in the forest, but when he first left Jaden and the others he didn't really care. He just needed to get away, as far away from Jaden and Alexis as he could. He had to get away from them because he couldn't take what he had just seen. The moment that Chazz had seen Alexis tap into Yubel's power to defeat Lamia was the moment that Chazz had a dark realization; that he had lost Alexis forever.

It wasn't simply the fact that Alexis clearly seemed to love Jaden instead of him. What Chazz saw at the end of that duel was that Jaden and Yubel had somehow corrupted Alexis. The supernatural chaos that Jaden drew towards him had somehow enveloped Alexis, infected her and made her into something not human like Jaden. Alexis still seemed like the same person, but now the chaos that Jaden drew towards him like a lightning rod would be drawn to her as well. To Chazz, Alexis had become another one of Jaden's casualties.

As Chazz continued walking, he soon noticed that everything around him had somehow become shrouded in a thick white mist. The ground under his feet had also become muddier. The mist kept getting stronger and stronger as Chazz kept walking. He wondered once or twice if the mist was a sign that he should turn back, but he decided against that because he still couldn't face Alexis and what she had become. Eventually Chazz reached the place where the mist was strongest, a giant pond or lake hidden deep in the jungle.

"Uh, boss?" Ojama Yellow spoke as he appeared next to Chazz's head. "Don'cha think we should turn back now? I mean I understand why ya left an' all, but this place seems kinda dangerous."

"You're probably right," Chazz grudgingly admitted. "Besides, looks like we've hit a dead end."

Just as Chazz was about to turn back, he heard the sound of a woman's laughter coming from behind him. The laughter seemed to have a strange echoing quality to it that Chazz just didn't like. Before Chazz could call out to the woman to show herself, a ball of white light struck his back. The light had a coldness to it that caused his whole body to feel numb. A split second after it had entered him, the light ball shot out of his chest and towards the lake. Chazz felt as though he had just gotten the wind knocked out of him.

As Chazz caught his breath and normal sensation returned to him, he looked and saw Lucia floating above the lake. Her left hand was behind her back, and floating above the flat palm of her right hand was a yellow ball of light that resembled a seed.

"Who are you?" Chazz demanded to know. "More importantly, what are you and what the hell did you just do to me?"

"Who I am isn't important right now," Lucia told him. "And don't worry. I've done nothing to harm you. I just needed to borrow a little piece of your heart to run an experiment."

Lucia then dropped the seed-like ball of light into the water. A few moments later a strange plant sprouted from the water's surface. The plant grew larger and changed shape in a matter of seconds, and soon it turned into what looked like a wooden sculpture of Chazz. As the sculpture finished forming, a strange glowing green moss covered its left shoulder and its entire waist. Suddenly the eyelids of the sculpture snapped open with the sound of a piece of wood being broken in half, revealing that the eyes behind them were nothing more than small glowing green balls of phosphorescent light.

The lips of the sculpture's face curved into a sneer. "Hey there, Chazz. How's it going?"

"What… what the hell?" a startled Chazz exclaimed as he took a step back. "What is this?"

"Just a golem I made using the indigenous plant life and the darkest parts of yourself," Lucia answered. "He's also going to be your opponent."

"So you're working with Viper," Chazz realized.

"More like he works for me, but that's as accurate an assessment as any," Lucia confirmed. "In any case, the only way you can leave this place now is if you defeat your double. I think you'll find that the mist I have surrounding this area will be too thick for you to find your way back." She then turned to look at Chazz's plant duplicate. "Hmm… now what should I call you?"

"How about Shrub?" the plant creature responded. "Seems appropriate, don't you think?"

"Yes. I suppose it is," Lucia agreed. "Now then Chazz, unless you can defeat Mr. Shrub, there's no way you'll be leaving this lake alive. Understood?"

"I should warn you though Chazz, there's no way you can defeat me," Shrub confidently declared as a duel disk complete with a deck sprouted from his left arm. "After all, I'm you."

"We'll see about that!" Chazz declared as he activated his own duel disk in response. "There's no way in hell that some talking Chia Pet version of me can be me!"

* * *

Despite the heavy brush, Axel was able to clearly follow Chazz's path through the jungle. His skills as a tracker were quite good, especially when it came to following someone like Chazz who had no skills when it came to hiding his own trail and didn't even try to. Jaden and Alexis were following close behind, doing their best to stay out of Axel's way as he did his work.

"I hope we don't end up getting lost ourselves trying to find Chazz," Alexis remarked.

"That shouldn't be a problem," Axel assured her. "I have a pretty good idea where we are in relation to the trail to Viper's base. We'll be fine as long as we take the same path back."

"I wish I knew why Chazz just suddenly bolted like that," Jaden spoke.

"I can't be sure, but I think it had something to do with that Cyber Queen monster that Alexis had summoned during her duel with Lamia," Axel theorized. "After she summoned it, I glanced at Chazz and saw that he had a look of surprise and disgust. I don't really get why though."

"Great! So now Chazz has a problem with my relationship with Alexis too," Yubel deduced as she appeared next to Jaden. "Not that I'm surprised though."

"Anyway, I don't know what the hell Chazz's problem is, but we had better find him soon," Axel declared. "Otherwise it could be at least another day before we can finally get to Viper and put an end to this."

* * *

"I'll be making the first move since we're playing on my turf," Shrub declared as he drew his first card. "I summon Mushroom Gnome in Defense Mode!"

Appearing on Shrub's side of the field was a short tan humanoid creature with a pointed red had with yellow spots on top of its head resembling a mushroom cap. It wore a tattered off-white shirt with long sleeves and a pair of long dark-brown pants. On its face was a long grey beard, and it had a pair of glowing yellow eyes and a mouth filled with yellow teeth that was curved in a sinister grin.

"That ends my turn," Shrub announced.

Chazz drew his first card. "I summon V-Tiger Jet in Attack Mode!"

On cue, the tiger-like jetfighter materialized on Chazz's side of the battlefield.

"Next I play the Continuous Spell, Frontline Base!" Chazz announced. "Using the effect of Frontline Base, I summon W-Wing Catapult to the field!"

The larger blue box-like aircraft appeared on the field next to Tiger Jet.

"Now I combine V-Tiger Jet and W-Wing Catapult to summon VW-Tiger Catapult!" Chazz announced.

Sparks of electricity flew as Tiger Jet docked onto the back of the larger aircraft, and in seconds they had combined into a more powerful aerial vehicle.

"I activate Tiger Catapult's effect!" Chazz announced. "By discarding one card from my hand, I can change the battle position of one of my opponent's monsters! I use Tiger Catapult's effect to switch Mushroom Gnome to Attack Mode!"

As Chazz placed a card from his hand into his duel disk's Graveyard slot, Tiger Catapult suddenly fired to small black missiles from its launchers. The missiles struck Mushroom Gnome and created a small explosion that knocked the fungus imp onto his rear.

"That weird monster of yours only has 500 ATK, so this is gonna hurt," Chazz declared. "I attack Murshoom Gnome with Tiger Catapult! Air Claw Blitz!"

Tiger Catapult opened fire with every weapon it was armed with. Each projectile fired by the aircraft struck Mushroom Gnome and destroyed it with a flash of fire and smoke. When the smoke cleared, the life points of Chazz's plant doppelgänger had dropped to 2500.

Shrub merely chuckled. "I now activate one of the effects of Primeval Jungle! When a Plant monster is destroyed, I can use the effect of Primeval Jungle to summon a level four or lower Plant monster from my deck to take its place! I summon Armed Mandrake LV3 in Attack Mode!"

Appearing on the field in Mushroom Gnome's place was a strange infant-like creature that resembled a root vegetable of some sort. It had rough yellowish skin covered in clumps of dirt, along with sort arms and legs with stubby fingers and toes. Its face lacked a nose, but it had small beady red eyes and a large mouth. Growing from the top of its head was a large green plant sprout with two leaves.

"Armed Mandrake?" Chazz spoke with a raised eyebrow.

"Well I had to give your copy a suitable ace monster," Lucia spoke from where she watched from above, sitting on nothing in the air with her head propped up on her hands. "Think of it as an homage to your Armed Dragon."

"The effect of Armed Mandrake LV3 now kicks in!" Shrub announced. "When Armed Mandrake is pulled from the soil and special summoned to the field, his cry lowers the ATK of all other monsters on the field by 300!"

On cue, Armed Mandrake's eyes widened and it let out a horrid indescribable shriek that forced Chazz to cover his ears. The noise also caused Tiger Catapult to spark with electricity and drop its ATK to 1700.

"Got any more moves left, hotshot?" Shrub asked mockingly.

"I'll end my turn there," Chazz announced. "But that freaky monster of yours changes nothing! In the end, I'm still going to beat you!"

"Who do you think you're kidding, Chazz?" Shrub responded. "You forget one very important thing. I'm you, and I know the truth about what lies in your heart. The truth is that you're weak! That's why Jaden has been able to walk all over you almost every single time you've faced each other. You lacked the strength to defeat him, and because of that, you were too weak to protect Alexis from him."

"You don't know what you're talking about," Chazz told him.

"That's why you ran away from Jaden and the others earlier!" Shrub continued. "You couldn't face the fact that you had failed Alexis! That in the end you could never overcome Jaden! And because of that, Alexis has been lost to you forever!"

"SHUT UP!" Chazz shouted.

"You right. Talking right now is pointless," Shrub declared as he drew his next card. "I'm going to show you how weak you are by destroying you in this duel. Now then! During my Standby Phase, Armed Mandrake evolves from LV3 to LV5!"

Suddenly Armed Mandrak began to grow and change shape. Its rough skin turned a light brown almost like wood. While its stubby legs remained the same shape as before, its arms grew longer and had gained large hands with a row of spikes growing from the knuckles. Its rear end had also grown a short tail with a small black spike growing from the back of the tip. The plant creature's face had also morphed to have a short snout almost like that of a lizard or a dragon.

"I summon Weed Imp in Attack Mode!" Shrub announced.

Materializing next to Armed Mandrake was a short slender humanoid creature wearing a sort of green suit. The collar of this suit was made from the leaves of a dandelion. Its face was light green and had yellow eyes, a long pointed nose, and a grinning mouth filled with short white fangs. It had long pointed ears and a head of dandelion seeds in place of hair.

"Next I activate the effect of Mushroom Gnome!" Shrub announced. "By removing Mushroom Gnome from the Graveyard, I can summon two Spore Tokens to the field!"

Appearing next to Weed Imp were two small round clouds of made of a strange yellow-brown mist. Each cloud had a pair of sinister red eyes and chuckled in a high-pitched voice.

"I now activate the effect of Armed Mandrake LV5!" Shrub announced. "By sacrificing any number of Plant monsters I control other than Armed Mandrake, I can decrease the ATK of one monster my opponent controls by 600 times the number of monsters sacrificed! I sacrifice Weed Imp and my two Spore Tokens to reduce Tiger Catapult's ATK by 1800!"

Weed Imp and the two Spore Tokens shattered into particles of gold light as small twisters of wind surrounded each one of them. As the twisters subsided, Armed Mandrake let out another horrid shriek that forced Chazz to cover his ears again. Tiger Catapult wobbled in the air and sparked with electricity as the blast of sound dropped its ATK down to zero.

"Armed Mandrake! Attack Tiger Catapult!" Shrub commanded. "Poison Scream!"

The plant monster let out another horrible blast of sound the struck Tiger Catapult, causing it to explode in a blast of fire and smoke. The attack caused Chazz's life points to drop to 1600.

"I end my turn there!" Shrub announced. "And at the end of a turn when it destroyed a monster in battle, Armed Mandrake evolves from LV5 to LV7!"

Suddenly Armed Mandrake grew even larger and changed shape yet again. Its skin had turned an even darker shade of brown, and large curved black spikes like thorns grew from each of its shoulders. Its snout grew longer, as did its tail, which gained a row of long black thorn along its back. A pair of large red eyes with slit pupils also snapped open on its chest, and the middle of its stomach gained a large vertical mouth filled with sharp white fangs.

"Like I told you before Chazz, you're weak!" Shrub declared. "And on my next turn, I'm about to show you just how weak you are!"

* * *

 **Author's Note:** I think I may have mentioned before that when I came up with the idea for this story, I was going to leave Alexis out of it entirely. While making Alexis a part of this story's cast made it much better, it also created kind of a problem. I had four main characters, and Viper only had a team of three assassins. For me, the only way to change that was to go back and retcon the epilogue to _VR Duelists_ , and I felt like that would've been too much work. Of course things kind of worked out better this way, as Shrub (as unoriginal as he might be) is an opponent that forces Chazz to confront some of his inner demons.

It sort of goes without saying that every monster that Shrub has used in this duel is made up. There was no way of getting around that since Plant monsters weren't really usable until 5D's.

Please review and let me know what you think.


	11. A Rival's Vow

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh! GX.

* * *

Chapter 10: A Rival's Vow

Axel and the others continued to follow Chazz's trail until they came to an unexpected dead end. Before them was a massive wall of mist as thick and white as a cloud. Axel had no idea how such a phenomenon could occur in a tropical jungle, but he knew that they couldn't go into it. There was zero visibility in that cloud; no chance of seeing any traces of Chazz's trail or even anything that was a foot in front of them. If the three of them entered that mist, they'd only get themselves separated and totally lost.

"Well, I guess the trail pretty much stops here," Axel told the others.

"Where the heck could this mist have come from?" Alexis asked.

"If I had to guess, that partner of Viper's probably put it up in order to keep us from getting to Chazz," Yubel theorized as she appeared next to Jaden.

"Well we can't just stop here," Jaden declared. "Who knows what kind of danger Chazz is in now?"

"I get what you're saying, but going into that fog will only get us into more trouble," Axel pointed out. "The way I see it, our only option is to turn back."

Before Jaden could respond to that, Winged Kuriboh suddenly appeared before him. The flying ball of fur was flying around excitedly making a lot of noise.

"I feel like we're being told that Timmy just fell down a well," Yubel remarked.

"What is it Winged Kuriboh?" Jaden asked.

Winged Kuriboh responded by making another one of its excited cries before flying straight into the mist.

"Hey! Wait up!" Jaden responded as he chased the fur ball into the mist.

"Jaden!" Axel called.

"Axel! Wait here for us!" Alexis told him as she ran past after Jaden. All Axel could do was watch as they both vanished into the mist.

Meanwhile, Jaden was doing his best to keep Winged Kuriboh in sight. He was having a hard time though, as the fog was somehow even thicker inside of the cloud. Just as it seemed like Winged Kuriboh was about to vanish completely though, a brilliant golden light seemed to emanate from its body. Jaden and Alexis could both see the little Duel Monster spirit as clear as day.

"The little guy really knows some good tricks," Alexis remarked as she caught up to Jaden and ran alongside him. "You think he knows where Chazz is?"

"Think? I'm counting on it," Jaden replied.

* * *

Chazz drew his next card. "First I play Pot of Greed and draw two more cards! Then I summon Ojama Yellow in Defense Mode!"

On cue, Yellow materialized on Chazz's side of the field. "Ready for action, boss!" He then saw Armed Mandrake on the other side of the battlefield and screamed. "Well… maybe not that ready."

"Quiet!" Chazz ordered, causing Yellow to flinch. "Next I activate the Spell card, Ojamassemble! When I have an Ojama monster on the field, I can summon two more Ojama monsters with different names from my deck in Defense Mode! I summon Ojama Green and Ojama Black!"

Green and Black appeared on the field next to their brother. Like Yellow, they both let out a small scream when they saw Armed Mandrake.

"Uh… boss? I don't mean to question you or nothin', but do you know what you're doin' right now?" Black asked.

"That thing could eat all three of us in one big bite!" a frightened Green declared.

"So, you brought the Ojama brothers to the field," Shrub observed. "Does that mean you're going to fuse them together to summon Ojama King?"

"Hey, yeah!" Yellow exclaimed. "The three of us as the King could really mess up his plans! Boss, you're a genius!"

"Except I don't have Polymerization in my hand," Chazz revealed. "I did have it in my hand earlier, but I discarded it to use Tiger Catapult's effect."

"Say what!" Yellow exclaimed.

"We're screwed!" Black declared.

"This is the end!" Green declared.

Shrub burst out laughing. "This is just what I expected form you Chazz! I told you before that you're weak, and now I'm going to tell you why! You're weak all because Jaden made you that way!"

Chazz blinked in surprise. "What?"

"Before you met Jaden, you had a lot of promise as a duelist," Shrub continued. "You had a bright future ahead of you when you first started at the academy. You were the rising star of Obelisk Blue, someone who could've become as big as Zane Turesdale. But then the moment you lost to Jaden, everything changed. Your rise to the top became a plunge to the bottom. You dropped out of the academy only to come back and end up in Slifer Red."

"I gained back my title," Chazz pointed out. "It took some time, but I made my way back into Obelisk Blue."

"Yeah, by your final year at the academy," Shrub reminded him. "And by that time, the damage Jaden did to you was already done. That first defeat of yours at his hands changed your dueling style completely. Ever since then, you're dueling has been all about showing off, trying desperately to prove your power to the world. And in trying to show off, you leave yourself open to attack in the worst ways. This tendency of yours has become even worse since losing Alexis. Near the end of your last duel with Jaden, you had him totally cornered, but then you summoned that absurd Armed Dragon Catapult Cannon of yours and were easily defeated. Face it Chazz! You're nothing more than a joke!"

Chazz had to admit that his evil double had a point. He could've easily finished Jaden during his last duel with him, but then he decided to show off for Alexis the moment he noticed she was there as a way to prove himself. And that duel wasn't a unique case. From the time of that first defeat at Jaden's hands, much of his duels have been all about displays of power. He wanted to prove to the world… or to himself rather… that he was the strongest duelist in the world.

"So Chazz, are you finished?" Shrub asked.

Chazz snapped back to reality. "I set one card on the field and end my turn."

"Well bros, it's been nice knowin' ya," Yellow said to Green and Black.

Shrub drew his next card. "During my Standby Phase while Weed Imp is in my Graveyard, I can summon him back to the field!"

On cue, Weed Imp reappeared on the battlefield next to Armed Mandrake.

"I activate the Spell card, Foolish Burial and use its effect to send a second Mushroom Gnome straight from my deck to the Graveyard!" Shrub announced. "Next I banish the second Mushroom Gnome to summon two more Spore Tokens!"

The snickering clouds of yellow spores with glowing red eyes appeared on Shrub's side of the battlefield.

"And now I activate Armed Mandrake LV7's effect!" Shrub announced. "By sacrificing any number of Plant monsters I control, Armed Mandrake can destroy an equal number of monsters with ATK less than or equal to its own and deal 500 points of damage for each one that was destroyed!"

Weed Imp and the two Spore Tokens shattered into bits of light as small twisters surrounded them. Soon after, Armed Mandrake let out a deep horrible scream from the mouth on its stomach that forced Chazz to cover his ears. Upon hearing the noise, the three Ojama brothers turned chalk white and seemed to shrivel up before they shattered into particles of white light. The sound wave continued on and struck Chazz, knocking him onto his back and taking his life points down to a mere 100. As Chazz slowly got back to his feet, he felt as though the very life had been drained out of him.

"If it's any consolation, summoning Ojama King wouldn't have made any difference," Shrub told him. "I still could've summoned a single monster to wipe the King out with Armed Mandrake's effect. And now to put you out of your misery! Armed Mandrake! Attack Chazz Directly! End of Life Scream!"

"I… I activate my Trap, Negate Attack!" Chazz announced. "This card cancels Armed Mandrake's attack and ends the Battle Phase!"

The plant dragon let out another horrible blast of sound from its normal mouth directly at Chazz. Before the attack could strike though, a small vortex appeared in front of Chazz and sucked the sound waves up before vanishing.

"You should've just made things easier on yourself and let that attack hit you," Shrub told him. "Now you'll only die even more horribly."

"You really think so, huh?" Chazz asked.

"Oh I know it," Shrub answered. "But if you want to struggle to the bitter end, fine with me. I'll end my turn here. Your move."

"You know… I've just realized something about you," Chazz spoke. "You said before that you're me. And if that's true, then you're just as weak as I am!"

"Say what!" Shrub exclaimed.

"Only your weakness is different!" Chazz continued. "You're more like how I used to be; so arrogant that I thought I couldn't be defeated by anyone! That's how I was before Jaden beat me the first time. You are right in that I try to show off too much a lot of time, and it leads me to making serious mistakes, but your arrogance has caused you to make a serious mistake too! The very same mistake I made during my last duel with Jaden! You're so damn confident that you can beat me that you haven't bothered to put up any kind of defense!"

At this, Shrub smirked. "Oh please! As if I needed a defense against you! I've dug a grave so deep for you that you've got no way to claw yourself out!"

"We'll see about that!" Chazz declared as he drew his next card. "I activate the Spell card, Ojamadification! Using this card's effect, I banish Omaja Yellow, Ojama Green and Ojama Black from the Graveyard to summon X-Head Cannon, Y-Dragon Head and Z-Metal Tank Straight from my deck!"

On cue, Chazz's three other alphabet Machine monsters materialized on his side of the field. As soon as the three appeared, Shrub's eyes went wide with horror.

"It never occurred to you that I could use a move like this to beat you, did it?" Chazz assumed. "I combine X-Head Cannon, Y-Dragon Head and Z-Metal Tank to summon XYZ-Dragon Cannon!"

At Chazz's command, the three mechanical monsters joined together into their merged form.

"And now I activate Dragon Cannon's effect!" Chazz announced. "I discard one card to destroy Armed Mandrake LV7!"

Dragon Cannon fired beams of blue light from the cannons mounted on its shoulders at Armed Mandrake. The beams struck the eyes on Armed Mandrake's chest and caused him to catch on fire. In moments, the plant monster became nothing more than ash that blew away in the wind.

"And now to finish you off!" Chazz declared. "Dragon Cannon! Blow that talking plant away! XYZ Hyper Cannon!"

Dragon Cannon fired every single weapon in its body at Shrub. Upon being hit, the plant creature scream as his body caught on fire and his life points dropped to zero. Dragon Cannon vanished from the field as soon as the duel ended, and in a matter of seconds Shrub was nothing more than ash that sunk into the lake. Moments later, the ball of light that Lucia had taken out of Chazz burst up from the water and flew back into his chest. Soon after, Yellow Green and Black reappeared to float near Chazz's head.

"Boy! That was kind of a close one, huh boss?" Yellow asked.

"I'm making a vow right here and now," Chazz suddenly declared. "Both to Jaden and to myself. Now that I know my own weaknesses, I'm going to overcome them and get stronger. And then… I will crush Jaden and keep him from hurting anyone else!"

Before the Ojama brothers could respond, the four of them heard the sound of clapping from above. Chazz and the others looked up to see that it was Lucia.

"Marvelous!" Lucia declared. "Unlike Viper and his little minions, you do not disappoint. So far you've lived up to every single one of my expectations, Chazz."

"What the hell do you want from me?" Chazz demanded to know.

Suddenly Lucia was standing directly in front of Chazz. She had moved faster than he could see. Her face was now only inches from his.

"What do I want? Why I want nothing more than to help you become stronger," Lucia told him. "And in return, you can help me fulfill my life's divine purpose."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Chazz asked.

"Oh… you'll find out soon enough," Lucia answered as she backed away and floated back up into the air. "For now though I must leave you. You're greatest enemy is about to arrive."

Lucia vanished before Chazz could ask her what she meant. The thick mist surrounding the lake had vanished along with her. Soon after, Jaden arrived with Alexis following close behind.

"Chazz! You okay?" Jaden asked.

"Yeah… I'm fine," Chazz answered coldly.

"What happened to you here?" Alexis asked.

"…Nothing that either of you need to concern yourselves with," Chazz answered as he walked straight past them. "Now lets meet back up with Axel so we can beat Viper and get the hell out of here."

Jaden and Alexis remained standing by the lake for several moments as Chazz left. Neither one of them liked the way Chazz was acting.

* * *

Viper was watching from his base as Jaden, Alexis and Chazz trekked back through the forest to meet back up with Axel. He hadn't been able to see any of what happened with Chazz at the lake because the mist Lucia had created had jammed his surveillance system. Viper had the unpleasant certainty that his not being able to watch was deliberate, and he couldn't help but wonder if is usefulness to Lucia was starting to come to an end.

Lucia appeared to stand next to his chair. "Alright Viper. You can go back to your little game now. I've learned all that I needed to about Chazz."

"What is it with your sudden interest in Princeton?" Viper asked.

"It's nothing you need to concern yourself with," Lucia innocently replied. "Right now, you should be more focused on your confrontation with Jaden Yuki. It's only a matter of time before his arrival."

"Yes… you're right," Viper agreed as he rose from his chair. "I must prepare myself for when he shows up. The time of our reckoning is fast approaching now. And this time I will make Jaden pay for everything he has done!"

* * *

 **Author's Note:** For those of you expecting and/or hoping to see an Armed Mandrake LV10, I'm sorry to have disappointed you. I wanted to keep this duel fairly simple, partly because Shrub was using a deck of mostly made-up cards, and partly because Chazz's deck is... complicated. I did briefly think of having Shrub using a LV10 version of Armed Mandrake, but in the end it seemed kind of unnecessary.

Well, the final duel between Jaden and Viper is coming up next, so stay tuned for next week's update. Until then, please review and let me know what you think.


	12. Into the Serpent's Den

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh! GX.

* * *

Chapter 11: Into the Serpent's Den

After finally meeting back up with Axel, Jaden and the others continued their trek through the jungle. For several hours they continued along the path that Viper had laid for them in almost total silence. The tension that existed between Jaden and Chazz made conversation almost totally impossible. By the time the sun was beginning its slow descent towards the horizon, the four finally reached their destination. Before them was the mouth of a large cave in the base of a small mountain.

Axel double-checked the electronic map they had been following to make sure they had arrived at the right spot. "Looks like this is the place."

"Then let's go," Jaden told the others as he headed towards the cave mouth.

"We should be careful," Axel stated as he and the others followed. "Viper could have more traps laid for us."

"Somehow I kinda doubt it," Jaden responded. "I could be wrong, but I think Viper wants to bring these survival duels of his to an end after everything that's happened. I know I certainly do."

The four walked through a dark tunnel towards another large opening at the end showing light. After a few moments, they arrived in a vast cavern that had been fashioned into a makeshift arena. As soon as they entered, two spotlights shined down from above onto the space. Viper was standing under the light at the far end.

"Hello Jaden," Viper spoke. "At last we meet again face to face."

"I've had enough of these games of yours, Viper!" Jaden declared as he stepped forward to stand under the other light. "Let's end this right here and now!"

"I couldn't agree more," Viper responded. "It is finally time for you to pay for everything you've done!"

With that, Jaden activated his duel disk. In response, Viper activated a mechanical device on his chest that unfolded into a duel disk tray.

"Just so you know, now that you're in my stronghold, the effect of Primeval Jungle is no longer in play," Viper revealed as he drew his opening hand. "Of course the consequences of you losing this duel are still the same."

"I kinda figured that," Jaden responded.

"I'm kind of surprised that Viper isn't going to be using Primeval Jungle in this duel," Alexis remarked.

"The reason he's not using Primeval Jungle is because his deck has an even deadlier Field Spell," Axel reminded her. "Or did you forget about Jaden and Viper's original duel?"

"I will let you go first," Viper decided.

Jaden drew his first card. "I summon Elemental Hero Clayman in Defense Mode and end my turn!"

On cue, Jaden's stone-armored hero appeared on his side of the field in a kneeling position.

Viper drew his first card. "For my first move, I play the Field Spell, Venom Swamp!"

Suddenly the ground of the battlefield became covered in a thick layer of dark-brow mud that had an almost slime-like quality to it. Thick sickly green vines also sprouted and grew up the walls of the cavern.

"Just as I thought. Viper is pretty much using the same strategy as before," Axel spoke. "He's going to use the power of Venom Swamp to slowly weaken and kill all of Jaden's monsters."

"I summon Venom Serpent in Attack Mode!" Viper announced.

Materializing on Viper's side of the field was a fairly large two-headed snake. Its body was green with a white underside. Each of its two heads had red eyes and sets of three long pointed fangs.

"I activate the effect of Venom Serpent and place a Venom Counter on Clayman!" Viper announced.

The mouth of Venom Serpent's right head opened and spewed out a ball of blue liquid at Clayman. In midflight, the ball of slime morphed into a small snake with yellow eyes. Upon reaching its target, the snake clamped its fangs onto Clayman's shoulder.

"As you know, monsters with Venom Counters placed on them lose 500 ATK for each counter while Venom Swamp is on the field," Viper continued. "And when that monster's ATK becomes zero, it's instantly destroyed."

"And at the end of your turn, the effect of Venom Swamp will place another Venom Counter on Clayman," Jaden spoke. "That second counter will drop Clayman's ATK to zero and he'll be destroyed."

"Yes, but I don't have to wait until the end of my turn to wipe that pathetic wall monster of yours off the field," Viper told him. "Not when I can inflict serious damage on you. I activate Polymerization! I fuse Venom Serpent with Venom Boa in my hand to summon Venom Basilisk!"

Appearing next to Venom Serpent was a gigantic blue snake with a yellow underside and three teal-colored eyes. The end of its tail was the small head of a cobra with a red hood. Both snakes slithered into a transparent vortex that had formed in the center of the field. Rising out of the vortex a few seconds later was a massive snake three times the size of Venom Boa. Its body was white with a yellow underside, and it had two small black horns that grew from the back of its head, along with four red eyes that blazed like fire. Soon after it appeared, the serpent roared at Jaden, revealing a long green forked tongue.

"I activate Venom Basilisk's effect!" Viper announced. "Once per turn, Venom Basilisk can destroy one monster on the field with Venom Counters placed on it and inflict 700 points of damage for each counter on the destroyed monster! I use this effect to destroy Clayman! End of Life Gaze!"

Venom Basilisk hissed at Clayman as its eyes began to glow red. Suddenly the Venom Counter clinging to Clayman's shoulder glowed orange and exploded, enveloping the armored hero in a massive fireball. When the smoke cleared, there was no trace of Clayman left. Meanwhile, Jaden's life points dropped to 3300.

"Venom Basilisk! Attack Jaden directly!" Viper commanded. "Snake Dragon Venom!"

The white serpent opened its jaws and sprayed Jaden with a stream of thick green liquid. Jaden felt an electric shock all over his body from the attack as he life points plummeted to a mere 900.

"This is only the beginning, Jaden!" Viper declared. "I'm going to make you suffer in agony before you die!"

"He's definitely playing more aggressively than he did during your last duel with him," Yubel remarked as she appeared next to Jaden.

"Yeah. But I can handle him," Jaden quietly responded.

"I'll end my turn here," Viper announced. "But on my next turn you shall experience even more suffering than the pain I have just inflicted on you!"

Jaden drew his next card. "First I play Pot of Greed and draw two more cards! Then I activate Rite of the Primal Flame and sacrifice Elemental Hero Neos in my hand to summon Primal Neos!"

Neos appeared on the field along with the magic circle and torches used in the Primal Flame ritual. Both torches launched balls of fire that struck the gem in the center of Neos's chest, enveloping the hero of space in a pillar of flames. Moments later the flames subsided to reveal Neos in his atavistic form.

"Next I summon Neo-Spacian Aqua Dolphin in Attack Mode!" Jaden announced.

Appearing next to Primal Neos was a humanoid dolphin. Much of his body was blue, except for his face, which was white along with the front of his neck, chest, and the fronts of his arms, waist and upper legs. He had large round hazel eyes, and a fin grew from the back of his head. Two more fins grew from the back of the dolphin alien's elbows, and on the front of his chest were three black circles arranged in a vertical pattern.

"I send Primal Neos and Aqua Dolphin back to the deck to Fusion Summon Primal Aqua Neos!" Jaden announced.

Primal Neos and Aqua Dolphin jumped high into the air and kept going until they vanished from sight. A few moments later, Primal Neos landed back onto the battlefield in a new form. His red hair had disappeared, and his body had become a much deeper blue than before. The horn on his forehead had been replaced by a long fin that grew from the back of his head, and the primal hero's face had turned white and had gained a short snout with fangs like that of a prehistoric dolphin. The front of the hero's chest and neck had turned white as well, and surrounding the heart-shaped gemstone in the center of his chest were three blue markings shaped like drops of water. Long curved fins grew from each of the hero's elbows. The warrior was clad in a white toga with a golden belt around his waist.

"I activate the effect of Rite of the Primal Flame from the Graveyard and send it back to my deck!" Jaden announced. "Next I activate the effect of Primal Aqua Neos! By discarding one card, Aqua Neos can destroy a random card in your hand!"

Primal Aqua Neos opened his mouth and fired a small blue ring of sound towards Viper. The sound wave struck the rightmost card in Viper's hand, causing it to glow blue. Viper scowled as he placed the card in his Graveyard, revealing it to be a monster called Venom Snake.

"And now the other effect of Primal Aqua Neos kicks in!" Jaden announced. "If the card in my opponent's hand that was destroyed is a monster card, then Primal Aqua Neos can destroy one face-up can on the field and inflict 500 points of damage! And the card I choose to destroy is Venom Swamp! Primordial Echo!"

Aqua Neos opened his mouth again and let out a deep cry that echoed through the cavern and caused it to shake. With the cry, a blue ring of sound radiated across the field and caused the mud and vines covering the inside of the cave to shatter into particles of gold light. At the same time, Viper's life points took a slight drop to 3500.

"And now I attack Venom Basilisk with Primal Aqua Neos!" Jaden announced. "Sea God's Wrath!"

Aqua Neos leapt into the air as his right fist began to spark with blue electricity. The hero struck Venom Basilisk with a powerful uppercut that impacted its jaw and knocked the snake to the ground with a loud thud. Seconds later, Venom Basilisk shattered into particles of gold light and Viper's life points dropped to 3100.

"I activate the second effect of Venom Basilisk!" Viper announced. "When Venom Basilisk is destroyed by my opponent and sent to the Graveyard, I can summon two Venom monsters back to my field in Defense Mode! I summon Venom Serpent and Venom Boa back to the field!"

On cue, the two snakes that Viper had played earlier in the duel reappeared on the field.

"At least Jaden was able to get rid of Venom Swamp," Alexis observed.

"For now, anyway," Chazz responded. "It's probably only a matter of time before Viper pulls another copy of it from the deck."

"You do know that he's going to come after us even harder on his next turn, right?" Yubel asked Jaden.

"No kidding," Jaden responded. "You ready to back me up when he does?"

"Always," Yubel answered. "Plus it'll be a good chance to have a word with Viper myself."

"I kinda doubt that anything you say to him will make a difference to him," Jaden told her.

"Probably not, but I'd still like to talk to him," Yubel responded.

At this, Jaden nodded. "I lay down a face-down and end my turn! And with the end of my turn, Primal Aqua Neos returns to the Fusion Deck and summons Elemental Hero Neos to take his place!"

Primal Aqua Neos glowed blue and changed shape. In moments the light faded to reveal that Neos had indeed returned to his original form.

Viper drew his next card. "First I activate Pot of Greed and draw two more cards! Then I activate the Spell card, Snake Rain! I discard one card and send four Reptile monsters from my deck to the Graveyard! Now I sacrifice Venom Serpent and Venom Boa to summon one of my ultimate monsters! Come forth! Vennominion the King of Poisonous Snakes!"

Both of Viper's serpents shattered into particles of gold light as a massive twister surrounded them. In moments the twister faded to reveal a large dark-green serpent-like creature clad in purple and black robes. Its belly was yellow-white, and it had a green reptilian face with large red eyes. Two large dark-green snakes covered the creature's shoulders, and covering its head was an ornate golden hood fashioned to look like the head of a cobra. Two golden serpent heads were attached to its back, and it had a pair of arms made of small green snakes that were wrapped around one another like robe, with the heads of these serpents acting as the long fingers of the hands.

"As you may remember, Vennominion gains 500 ATK for each Reptile monster in my Graveyard," Viper continued. "Right now I have eight Reptiles in my Graveyard, making Vennominion's current ATK 4000! I attack Neos with Vennomionion! Venom Strike!"

"I activate my Trap, Shadow Behind the Light!" Jaden announced. "When a Neos monster I control is attacked, I can return that monster to the deck and summon Yubel to take his place!"

Neos suddenly vanished with a flash of gold light, and soon after Jaden's eyes began to glow orange and teal. A large shadow stretched from his feet onto the battlefield. Rising from the end of the shadow was a humanoid demon with eyes glowing in the same colors as Jaden's, and a third more demonic-looking eye on her forehead. The skin on its face, parts of its torso, and the bicep of its right upper arm were bright purple, while the rest of its body was mostly black. The demon had a pair of large bat-like wings, and it had a head of long shaggy hair that was white on the left side and dark-blue on the right.

"Hello Viper," Yubel spoke as she crossed her arms. "It's been a pretty long time."

"Yubel!" Viper responded in a low hate-filled voice. "From the moment I found your severed hand in that rubble, the path of my life was changed to one of despair!"

"I know. I used you in order to heal myself and literally lead you off a cliff," Yubel responded. "For what it's worth, I do regret what I did to you. I wasn't myself back then."

"You really think that a mere apology will make things better between us?" Viper asked. "Nothing that either you or Jaden can say can ever make me forgive you!"

"I know that, but it still needed to be said," Yubel indifferently replied. "Actually, the real reason I wanted to talk to you is because I want know how the hell you're still alive. It has something to do with who or whatever it was that vaporized your helpers."

"Yes… my benefactor," Viper answered. "The one who brought me back from the abyss I had fallen into. I can remember that moment like yesterday; the moment I learned the truth about what you did to me…"

* * *

 _All around Viper was an endless darkness. The last thing he remembered was falling and feeling intense pain. Now he felt nothing, could see nor hear nothing. Then suddenly there was a light before his eyes. The light got brighter and brighter and started to expand. Viper suddenly began to hear a voice in the distance._

 _"Professor Viper… wake up," a feminine voice spoke._

 _The light continued to get brighter until it at last washed out the darkness. Viper's eyes snapped open and he shot straight up, finding that he was still at the bottom of the cliff. Lucia was standing before him with a hand on her hip._

 _"About time," Lucia spoke. "I was beginning to think I had botched your repair job."_

 _"W-what's going on?" a confused Viper asked. "Where is my son?"_

 _"He was never there, I'm afraid," Lucia told him. "Yubel tricked you with an illusion and led you to fall to a gruesome death."_

 _"I… died?" a stunned Viper asked._

 _"Yes, temporarily," Lucia confirmed as she crossed her arms. "You've been gone from the land of the living for at least twenty-three minutes. Thankfully I got to you before your soul crossed over to the next life."_

 _"You're saying you brought be back to life?" Viper asked as he put his hand to his chest. He could feel that his heart was still beating._

 _"Artificial life anyway," Lucia answered. "Your heart may be beating, but your body is basically nothing more than a machine running on a different source of power; one that I can switch off in an instant. You are essentially undead. One thing for sure is that your complexion will never be the same again."_

 _"Why have you brought me back?" Viper asked._

 _"Because you and I have a common enemy," Lucia answered. "Because of Jaden Yuki and Yubel, you have experience a major setback to say the least."_

 _"Yes… because of them… I've lost everything!" Viper shouted as he struck the ground with his fist. "My son… he's gone forever! And because of those two…"_

 _"Thanks to me though, you have a chance at revenge," Lucia told him. "Of course it will have to wait. Right now, Jaden is dealing with other matters. With any luck, those matters will lead to his destruction and I will not require your services. But I sense that Jaden will prevail eventually. In the meantime though, this give you time to plan and prepare for when you face him again."_

 _Viper at last rose to his feet. "Indeed. The only thing that can keep me going now is revenge. Therefore I will begin preparing for the day when Jaden and I face each other again!"_

* * *

"…Since that day, I began devising plans to destroy both of you," Viper continued. "And now they have all led to this!"

"So who's the girl that turned you into Frankenstein's monster?" Yubel asked.

"That is not important," Viper answered. "All that matters is that very soon I will finally have my revenge!"

"Okay. Then let us have it," Yubel dared. "Jaden and I are wide open right now."

At this, Viper chuckled. "Do you think I'm a fool? When my benefactor told me that you and Jaden had become one, I did thorough research on your card and its effects. Neos is Jaden's ultimate sword, while you are his ultimate shield. By attacking you, I would only be hurting myself."

"Well, I tried," Yubel responded with a small shrug. "So are you done?"

"Yes. I end my turn!" Viper declared. "And now Jaden, you will have to make a choice! During your next turn you'll either have to sacrifice another monster to keep Yubel on the field or let her self-destruct! Either way, you won't be able to hide behind that shield of yours for long!"

"We'll see about that!" Jaden responded as he drew his next card. Upon looking at the card he just pulled, he smirked. "I activate Polymerization and fuse Yubel with Winged Kuriboh!"

"What!" Viper exclaimed.

"You what?" an equally surprised Yubel asked.

Winged Kuriboh materialized on the field next to Yubel. Soon after, a transparent vortex appeared in the air above the battlefield.

"Uh… Jaden? Since when can I fuse together with Winged Kuriboh?" Yubel asked.

"Just go with it," Jaden told her. "It's the only move we've got right now."

"Well… okay," Yubel responded. "Let's do this, little guy."

Winged Kuriboh cooed in response, and the two of them flew up towards the vortex. A second after the two entered, the vortex exploded with a flash of white light and Yubel descended back to the field in a new form. Her shaggy hair had turned chestnut brown on both sides, and on her back was a pair of large white-feathered wings. Her appearance seemed to be fully female, and the purple parts of her body had turned golden-yellow. She had on a glittering lavender dress with a short skirt and a thin golden belt around her waist, and she also wore a pair of knee-high lavender boots with elbow-high lavender gloves.

"Say hello to Fairy Yubel!" Jaden announced as Yubel softly landed on the field.

"Okay. I think I can make this work," Yubel declared.

"Yubel's new form changes nothing!" Viper declared. "In the end I shall still destroy you both!"

"Guess again, Viper!" Jaden told him. "Yubel and I are going to finish you off once and for all!"

* * *

 **Author's Note:** We're getting really close to the conclusion here. Next up, the continuation of Jaden and Viper's duel.

Until then, please review and let me know what you think.


	13. The Phantom Nemesis

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh! GX.

* * *

Chapter 12: The Phantom Nemesis

"This new form of Yubel does surprise me," Viper admitted. "Even so, summoning it will make no difference. For one thing, she still has only zero ATK!"

"You should know better than to judge a monster only by its ATK points," Yubel told him.

"I end my turn here," Jaden announced. "It's your move, Viper."

Viper drew his next card. "It seems that we may well be at a stalemate at the moment. After all, I don't know the effects of Yubel's new form. Attacking could prove costly to me."

"What's the matter Viper? Scared?" Yubel asked with a cocky smirk. "I guess it only proves that you can't beat me or Jaden. In the end, we'll always get the better of you."

"What did you say?" an outraged Viper asked. "I do not fear you or Jaden! This time I will make you pay for everything that you've done to me!"

"Then go ahead and let us have it," Yubel dared. "We're wide open. Prove to use that you're stronger."

"You asked for it! Vennominion! Attack Fairy Yubel!" Viper commanded. "Venom Strike!"

Vennominion fired streams of a brownish liquid from the snakeheads at the end of the fingers on his right hand at Yubel. Yubel was stuck in the chest by the streams, but the attack did no damage. Instead, Yubel's body glowed briefly with a golden aura, as did Jaden's. Before the aura from both of them faded, Jaden's life points rose to 4900.

"What!" Viper exclaimed. "How have your life points gotten so high? And why is Yubel still on the field?"

"Well for one thing, Fairy Yubel can't be destroyed in battle," Jaden explained. "Plus when she's attacked, any damage I would've taken is converted into life points for me."

"Thanks for playing right into our hands," Yubel spoke. "You're a pretty easy mark, Viper. But then I guess you always have been. After all, how else would it have been so easy to me to convince you that I could bring your son back from the dead?"

Viper gritted his teeth in frustration. "I… end my turn."

"Man! I can't believe Viper fell for such an easy taunt," Axel remarked.

"He's so focused on getting his revenge on Jaden and Yubel that he's not thinking straight," Chazz pointed out. "I have to admit… I can relate."

Jaden drew his next card. "I summon Elemental Hero Stratos in Attack Mode!"

On cue, Statos appeared on the battlefield next to Yubel.

"Using Stratos's effect, I add Elemental Hero Neos back to my hand!" Jaden announced. "Next I activate Miracle Fusion and fuse Stratos with Clayman in the Graveyard to summon Elemental Hero Great Tornado!"

Stratos and a ghostly image of Clayman flew up towards a transparent vortex that had appeared in the air above the battlefield. A few moments later, Great Tornado dropped down out of the vortex.

"And now Great Tornado's effect kicks in!" Jaden announced. "When Great Tornado is summoned to the field, the ATK of all my opponent's monsters is halved!"

Great Tornado raised his arms and a powerful gust of wind radiated from his body across the battlefield. Upon being hit by the gust, Vennominion was knocked into his rear.

"Great Tornado! Attack Vennominion!" Jaden commanded. "Super Cell!"

Great Tornado raised his arms forward and struck Vennomionion with a twister of razor-sharp wind. Vennominion shattered upon being hit and Viper's life points dropped to 2300.

"I now activate Vennominion's effect!" Viper announced. "Because Vennominion was destroyed in battle, I banish Venom Snake from my Graveyard to summon him back to the field!"

A portal of black mist opened up in the ground on Viper's side of the field. Within seconds, Vennominion rose out of the portal and let out a deep hiss.

"Vennominion may be 500 ATK points weaker now, but he's still more than powerful enough to eliminate that hero of yours!" Viper declared. "Now you have truly left yourself wide open for attack!"

"That's what you think," Yubel told him.

"As long as Fairy Yubel is on the field, my opponent can't attack any of my Hero or Neo-Spacian monsters," Jaden revealed.

"Jaden's in total control of this duel," Axel observed.

"Yeah. But that could change pretty quickly," Alexis pointed out.

"Jaden Yuki… I will… I WILL KILL YOU!" Viper shouted as he drew his next card. "I activate the Spell card, Offering to the Snake Deity! By discarding a Reptile monster from my hand, I can draw four more cards! And then, I take 400 points of damage drawn by this effect!"

After Viper drew his additional cards, four shadowy black snakes with blue eyes suddenly rose out of the ground and bit Viper on his legs. Viper winced in pain as his life points dropped to 1100.

"Whoa! Hey! Viper, are you okay?" Jaden asked.

"I do not need your concern or your pity!" Viper told him. "All I want is to see you lying dead on the ground!"

"He's totally lost it," Yubel declared.

"I activate Monster Reborn and summon Venom Boa back to the field!" Viper announced.

On cue, Venom Boa reappeared on the field with a flash of white light.

"I activate Venom Boa's effect and place two Venom Counters on Great Tornado!" Viper announced.

Venom Boa opened his jaws and spewed out to balls of blue liquid at Great Tornado. The projectiles turned into snakes in midflight and clamped their fangs onto the hero's wrists.

"Now I activate Polymerization and fuse Vennomionion together with Venom Boa and Venom Cobra in my hand to summon my most powerful monster!" Viper announced. "Arise! Vennomalice the Dragon King of Poisonous Snakes!"

Vennominion suddenly sunk into a transparent vortex that appeared underneath him. Venom Boa slithered in after him along with a red cobra with a silver hood. Jaden and the others watched the vortex for several moments waiting for something to happen until at last the head of a gigantic serpent rose out. A second head came out, followed by a third, and soon the entire creature climbed its was out of the vortex. Alexis, Axel and Chazz went totally pale upon seeing the creature.

Viper's new monster was a gigantic serpentine dragon with a dark-green body that was almost black and a light-green underside. Each of its three heads had red eyes like Vennominion's, and its central head wore a golden hood like the one Vennominion wore. It had a pair of massive membranous wings on its back, and covering its chest was a piece of golden armor styled to look like the face of a snake with sapphire eyes. The beast lacked a pair of legs, but it had arms made of smaller snakes coiled together with the heads acting as the fingers for its hands. The tip of its tail ended with the head of a cobra with red eyes and a red hood.

"And now Vennomalice's effect activates!" Viper announced. "When Vennomalice has been Fusion Summoned, it places one Venom Counter on each monster my opponent controls!"

The snake dragon spit balls of blue liquid from its left and right heads that morphed into snakes in midflight. One of the snakes clamped onto Great Tornado's upper leg, while the other bit onto Yubel's right forearm.

"I am not liking this!" Yubel declared as she tried to pull the serpent off of her arm.

"I activate Vennomalice's other effect!" Viper announced. "By discarding a card from my hand, Vennomalice can destroy all monsters on the field with Venom Counters attached to them and inflict 500 points of damage for each counter! Gorgon Gaze!"

Vennomalice hissed as the eyes on its three heads flashed red. Soon after, Yubel and Great Tornado turned to stone and crumbled to dust in an instant. Meanwhile, Jaden cried out as a bold or red lightning came down from above and struck him, dropping his life points down to 2900.

Viper let out a maniacal laugh. "And now Jaden Yuki, I have you right where I want you! Now that Yubel is gone, you are wide open for attack! And my next blow will kill you no matter what you do! For you see, Vennomalice gains 700 ATK for each Reptile in my Graveyard! And since I have eleven reptiles in my Graveyard at the moment, his ATK is currently at 7700!"

"Oh man! How the hell is Jaden supposed to beat something like that?" Axel asked.

"Jaden!" a worried Alexis called out.

"I activate Fairy Yubel's final effect!" Jaden announced. "When Fairy Yubel is destroyed, I can summon Elemental Hero Neos from my hand, deck or Graveyard!"

On cue, Neos reappeared on the battlefield with a flash of white light. Vennomalice roared at the white hero of space as soon as he appeared.

Viper let out another maniacal laugh. "You struggle in vain! Not even Neos can protect you now! Fortunately for you Vennomalice can't attack during the turn he's used his effect. Therefore I end my turn here, but on my next turn you shall be finished!"

Jaden closed his eyes and took a deep breath before drawing his next card. The card he pulled from his deck gave off a momentary flash of black energy.

Jaden's eyes snapped open. "I attack Vennomalice with Neos!"

"What! But an attack like that will only destroy you!" Viper exclaimed.

"That's what you think! I activate the Quick-Play Spell card, One-Punch Hero!" Jaden announced. The illustration of the card Jaden played showed a bald man in a yellow superhero outfit with a white cape and red gloves punching a large aquatic monster in the process of shattering into chunks of flesh from the impact of the man's fist. "When a Hero monster battles a level eight or higher Dark monster like Vennomalice, that monster is instantly destroyed at the start of the battle and my opponent takes damage equal to that monster's current attack!"

Almost faster than anyone could see, Neos moved in and punched Vennomalice right in the center of his chest. The impact of Neos's fist totally shattered the snake dragon's armor and rippled through his whole body, shredding him into chunks of flesh that shattered into particles of gold light before hitting the ground. Despite the thickness of Vennomalice's torso, the impact wave from Neos's punch continued on and struck Viper, knocking him back into the far wall of the cavern with enough force to cause several cracks. Soon after, Viper's life points plummeted to zero and Neos vanished from the field.

Jaden let out a heavy sigh of relief as his eyes returned to their original brow. "That got pretty intense."

"I'll say," Yubel agreed as she reappeared next to Jaden in her original form.

"Jaden…" Viper spoke as he suddenly staggered forward. Thin streams of blood trickled from the corners of his mouth.

"It's over, Viper," Jaden told him.

"No… it is not," Viper continued as he slowly moved towards Jaden. "Not until… I have…"

Before Viper could finish his sentence, his whole body suddenly turned ashen grey, even his hair. To Jaden's surprise, Viper's body suddenly crumbled into a pile of grey dust, leaving nothing but his clothes and his duel coat.

"A pity. And he tried so hard too," a distorted voice spoke. Jaden and the others looked up to see Lucia floating above them. "But then there was no other way this duel could've ended."

"Who… what are you?" a stunned Axel asked.

"You're the one who put Viper up to this, aren't you?" Jaden deduced.

"Indeed. I'm also the one who brought him back from the brink of death," Lucia confirmed. "He turned out to be quite a disappointment in the end, but then looking back I suppose I was never expecting much from him. I mainly did all this just to see what you were capable of, Jaden Yuki."

"But why go after Jaden?" Alexis asked. "Just what is your problem with him?"

"I think I have a pretty good idea about that," Jaden spoke. "You're another incarnation of the Light of Destruction, aren't you?"

Lucia chuckled. "I am of the Light, yes. And it is my divine purpose in life to destroy you."

"So now what? Do I have to duel you next?" Jaden asked.

"We will face one another eventually, but not now," Lucia told him. "I'm incapable of dueling anyone in my astral form. So for now I shall demonstrate my power and send you all back to the place from which Viper brought you here."

Before Jaden could respond, Lucia snapped her fingers and suddenly her body gave off a blinding flash of white light that filled the entire room. When the light faded, Jaden opened his eyes and found that he was standing under a starlit sky atop the very skyscraper he and Alexis were on before Patterson came and lured them into the limo. Alexis and Axel were standing right behind them. When each of them looked at their right wrists, they saw that the manacles that Viper had placed on them had vanished.

"That ghost girl even removed the poison bands," Axel observed. "I have to admit, that was one hell of a demonstration."

Jaden was about to say something in response when he noticed that a certain someone was missing. "Hey… where's Chazz?"

"You're right! He's gone!" Alexis realized as she looked around. "Could he still be back at Viper's base?"

"Maybe that girl just beamed Chazz to the wrong spot," Jaden theorized. "Like he ended up in a dumpster in the alley behind the building or something. I mean that would be the sort of thing that would happen to Chazz."

"Alexis, you take Jaden back to the hotel to rest," Axel ordered. "I'll scout around to see if I can find Chazz."

"Okay. C'mon Jaden," Alexis told him. "I'm sure Axel will be able to find where Chazz is."

"She's right," Yubel told him as she reappeared. "Besides, you're in no shape in any kind of search right now."

Jaden had to admit that Alexis and Yubel were right. He was too worn out from his duel with Viper to do anything else.

"I'll let you guys know the moment I find something," Axel assured them before walking off.

"I've got a bad feeling," Jaden spoke.

* * *

Jaden and Alexis had returned to their hotel room as Axel had requested. Pharaoh had gotten along fairly well during the couple's long absence, though the moment Jaden had stepped through the door the feline meowed loudly to demand food. The moment Pharaoh had opened his mouth, the ghost of Jaden's dead teach, Lyman Banner made his escape from his stomach and asked Jaden where he had been. Alexis and Jaden told the ghost about everything that had happened with Viper. After at least two hours waiting for Axel to call in and not hearing a thing, the two were forced to retire to bed.

When the morning came, there was a knock on the hotel room door. Jaden went to get it and found Axel on the other side with a serious expression on his face.

"Morning, Axel. Come on in," Jaden spoke as he stepped aside to let Axel enter. He could tell that the duelist soldier didn't have good news.

"I searched the entire area around the building and even inside the building itself," Axel reported as he walked in. "There was no sign of Chazz anywhere."

"I was afraid you were gonna say that," Jaden spoke as Alexis entered the room. "So that means either Chazz is still back in that jungle…"

"Or that ghost who was working with Viper basically captured him," Axel finished. "My guess is she's now the girl's prisoner."

"But why take Chazz?" Alexis asked, joining the conversation.

"No clue," Axel answered.

"She must've done it to try and hurt me in some way," Jaden assumed. "She's connected to the Light of Destruction somehow, which means she's going to do everything she can to destroy me."

"Then why didn't she take us all away to wherever she took Chazz?" Alexis asked.

"No idea," Jaden answered. "The only thing I can think of is maybe she can't fight me herself for some reason."

"Good to know that her power has limits," Yubel remarked as she appeared next to Alexis. "But there's no question she's dangerous."

"Axel, I want you to do me a favor," Jaden requested. "I want you to find where Chazz and that girl are."

"No problem," Axel replied. "The job I was doing for Kaiba to protect you is over now that Viper is out of the picture. Of course the problem is we've got no leads. I don't even no where to start looking."

"It was hard to tell because of the way that girl's voice was so distorted, but I think she had an accent of some kind," Alexis recalled. "She might be from somewhere in England."

"That's a whole lot of ground to cover," Axel pointed out. "Still, it's a start I guess. I'll head there and see what I can find out."

"Good luck," Jaden told him.

Axel gave the two a thumbs-up and exited the room.

"So, where are you headed for next?" Alexis asked Jaden.

"Don't know," Jaden answered. "I can't really get excited about competing in any tournaments right now."

"Then how about you come back to Duel Academy America with me for a couple of weeks?" Alexis suggested. "I'm sure Principal Mackenzie wouldn't mind having you as a guest."

"That sounds like a pretty good idea," Jaden agreed. "Hopefully Axel will have figured out where Chazz is before I leave there."

* * *

Lucia awoke in her own room feeling like a living corpse. She always felt like that when her astral form returned to her body, especially after an extended trip. After a little bit, normal sensation returned to her. She could feel the heaviness of the blankets covering her and the sensation of the soft mattress under her bare skin. Her limbs felt like lead weights, but gradually she regained her ability to move them. At first she could only twitch her wrists and move her ankles, but eventually she could raise her entire right arm and bend her knees under the blankets.

Once Lucia got the hang of using her body again, she managed to sit up. She sat up a bit too fast though, for she was overcome with a wave of dizziness that almost caused her to fall back. After a moment though, she recovered. Under normal circumstances after returning from a long astral trip, Lucia would've simply rang the servants to bring her some food and spend the next day or two in bed to regain her strength. This time though, Lucia needed to get out of bed so she can check on her guest.

Slowly Lucia climbed out of bed and stood up. She stumbled upon taking her first step and nearly fell to the floor, but managed to catch herself just in time. The room was practically pitch-dark, but Lucia could still see perfectly well. Being able to see in the dark was one of the many gifts she had been blessed with from birth. After a few careful steps, Lucia made it across the room to where a long white robe with baggy sleeves and a hood hung on the wall.

Lucia put on the robe and raised her hood, hiding her hair and all but the lower half of her face. Of course everyone in the order knew what Lucia looked like, but she disliked anyone seeing what she looked like when she was at her weakest. That's why the lights in her room were always turned off when she went on one of her astral journeys; so that none of the servants could see her when they brought her food or anything else she requested during her recovery period. Satisfied that her appearance was properly hidden, Lucia went to the door and exited her room to the stone staircase beyond. Lucia had to hold on tightly to the railing as she walked up the steps to avoid falling.

As Lucia ascended up the ancient stone steps, she could hear the chanting of some Latin phrases coming from the room at the top of the steps. She realized that she was coming in the middle of services. It mattered not to Lucia though. They would stop services just for her, as she was the one who they all worshiped. Any of her followers would gladly take their own lives without hesitation if she commanded it.

Eventually Lucia made it to the top of the steps and entered the central room of the large church where she lived. The pews were filled with men, women and children dressed in white robes, some wearing hoods and others not. They all continued to chant, oblivious to her presence. Standing at the pulpit and leading the mass was a man in his mid forties with pail skin, dark-green eyes and a head of receding black hair with a white streak down the middle, along with a black goatee with flecks of grey in it. This high priest was dressed in dark-blue robes, with a wide black banner hanging down the front of his chest that had the image of a white star-like symbol.

"Brother Ulrich!" Lucia called, and her voice echoed through the entire church.

The moment Lucia spoke, the chanting stopped and all eyes in the room fell upon her.

The eyes of Brother Ulrich, the high priest leading the mass, widened. "Uh… this concludes services for tonight, my children! Go in peace!"

In a matter of seconds, Brother Ulrich's white-robed followers left the church in droves. Some of them bowed quickly to Lucia as they passed her. Meanwhile, Brother Ulrich quick approached Lucia.

"Mistress Lucia! I rejoice at your return, but you should not be about in your current condition," Brother Ulrich told her. "You are, after all, our messiah; the one who will one day cleans this wretched world. If anything were to happen to you…"

"I am well aware of my own importance," Lucia told him. "And normally I would not dare show myself in my current condition, but I wanted to check on our newest guest. I trust you received him properly?"

"Of course, Mistress," Brother Ulrich assured her. "And he is being well taken care of."

"I wish to see for myself," Lucia stated. "Take me to him."

Brother Ulrich bowed in response and escorted Lucia to a door in one of the back corners of the church. In moments the two were descending down a spiral staircase leading to the underground dungeons.

"It is a pity that our Professor Viper did not succeed in his plans," Brother Ulrich remarked. "Had he managed to kill the Supreme King, then today would have marked the beginning of our new world."

"I never had all that much faith in Viper's abilities," Lucia responded. "But watching him and his little minions work gave me a much better idea of Jaden Yuki's abilities, not to mention the abilities of his new queen."

Eventually the two reach the bottom of the steps and went right to the large cell at the end of the hall. The moonlight streaming through the bars of the only window in the cell showed Chazz sleeping on the hard metal cot within. His right arm was hanging down, confirming that his poison band had been removed.

"He has not awoken since his arrival," Brother Ulrich reported. "Do you wish me to wake him now?"

"No. I want him sedated until I finally regain my strength," Lucia ordered. "After that, I shall personally see to the work of turning him to our cause."

"As you wish," Brother Ulrich replied. "But if I may ask, Mistress, why are you even bothering with this young man?"

"Because he could prove to be one of the best weapons we have to eliminate Jaden Yuki once and for all," Lucia answered with a smile. "He already has a great hatred for them, and that is something that I can definitely use."

FIN

* * *

 **Afterward:** I hope everyone enjoyed the conclusion to this story. I feel a great sense of accomplishment from having this story finished, not only because I struggled with the ending for several months, but also because this is the first multi-chapter story I've tried to write since starting my recent job. It's been something of a challenge figuring out how to continue my writing because of my employment, but it seems I've found a way to make it work so far.

So this of course is hardly the last story in my series of GX fanfics, and my guess is that you're all wondering about what the next installment is going to be. I can say that the next story unfortunately involve Chazz. I'm going to have to put a pin in that storyline until much later in the series. In the meantime though, the next story will get into what I've been building towards with the Legendary Planets, and also go back to the place where this whole series of mine first started.

Jaden Yuki will be back in the _Strawberry Panic_ crossover event: **Strawberry Heroes**

I've had the outline for this crossover story finished since at least last month, so if all goes well I should have the first couple of chapters for it up in the next week or two. In the meantime, please review this story and let me know what you think.


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